When you need to say "I saw nobody", "There's nothing left", or "I don't have a single penny", Romanian reaches for a small family of negative words: the pronouns nimeni ("nobody") and nimic ("nothing"), and the determiner niciun / nicio ("no, not a single"). Two things make this family worth a dedicated page. First, even a negative pronoun can carry case — nimeni has a genitive-dative form nimănui ("to nobody / of nobody"), so "I tell nobody" is Nu spun nimănui. Second, the determiner is one word, niciun / nicio, that agrees with its noun's gender — and it must not be confused with the two-word nici un, which means something quite different ("not even one"). Throughout, remember the rule from the overview: every one of these still demands nu on the verb.
nimeni — "nobody", and it inflects
Nimeni stands in for a person: "nobody, no one". Like other Romanian pronouns referring to people, it distinguishes a nominative-accusative form (nimeni) from a genitive-dative form (nimănui). This is the surprise for English speakers — "nobody" in English is a frozen word, but Romanian's nimeni bends for case just as cineva ("someone") becomes cuiva ("to someone").
| Case | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative / Accusative | nimeni | nobody (subject / object) |
| Genitive / Dative | nimănui | to nobody / of nobody / nobody's |
In the nominative-accusative, nimeni is the subject ("nobody came") or the direct object — and when it is a human object, it takes the personal marker pe: Nu cunosc pe nimeni ("I don't know anybody").
Nu vine nimeni la ora asta.
Nobody comes at this hour.
Nu cunosc pe nimeni în orașul ăsta.
I don't know anybody in this city. (pe nimeni — personal object)
The genitive-dative nimănui is what English cannot match in a single word. Use it for the indirect object ("to nobody") and for possession ("nobody's").
Nu spun nimănui ce s-a întâmplat.
I'm telling nobody what happened. (dative — to nobody)
Nu e treaba nimănui ce fac eu cu banii mei.
It's nobody's business what I do with my money. (genitive — nobody's)
nimic — "nothing", with no case forms
Nimic refers to a thing: "nothing, not anything". Unlike nimeni, it does not inflect — there is no genitive-dative nimic-form, because Romanian inanimate pronouns generally don't decline. Where you would want "of nothing", you use a preposition: din nimic ("out of nothing"), de nimic ("good for nothing / worthless").
Nu am mâncat nimic toată ziua.
I haven't eaten anything all day.
Nu mai e nimic de făcut.
There's nothing left to do.
Te superi din nimic.
You get upset over nothing. (din nimic — the preposition carries the relation)
A very common idiom worth banking: nu-i nimic / nimic on its own as a reassurance — "it's nothing, never mind, no worries."
— Scuze că am întârziat! — Nu-i nimic, abia am ajuns și eu.
— Sorry I'm late! — No worries, I just got here too.
niciun / nicio — the determiner "no, not a single"
When you negate a noun rather than replace it — "no penny", "no idea", "not a single colleague" — you use the determiner niciun (masculine/neuter) or nicio (feminine). Crucially this is one word, and it agrees in gender with the noun, exactly the way the indefinite article un / o does.
| Gender | Determiner | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine / Neuter | niciun | niciun ban | not a single penny |
| Feminine | nicio | nicio idee | not a single idea |
Nu am niciun ban la mine.
I don't have a single penny on me. (niciun — ban is masculine)
Nu am nicio idee unde sunt cheile.
I have no idea where the keys are. (nicio — idee is feminine)
Nu a venit niciun coleg la ședință.
Not a single colleague came to the meeting.
The determiner also has genitive-dative forms — niciunui (masc./neut.) and niciunei (fem.) — used when the noun phrase is itself in the genitive or dative. These are less frequent but fully alive in careful speech and writing.
Nu i-am dat dreptate niciunui coleg.
I didn't side with any colleague. (dative — niciunui)
Nu am răspuns la întrebarea niciunui profesor.
I didn't answer any professor's question. (genitive — niciunui)
niciun (one word) vs nici un (two words) — a real distinction
This is the trap. Written as one word, niciun / nicio is the negative determiner "no, not a single", part of the concord system. Written as two words, nici un / nici o is the focus particle nici ("not even") plus the numeral/article un ("one") — and it means "not even one", putting heavy emphasis on the count. The 1993 spelling reform of the Romanian Academy fixed the negative determiner as a single word precisely to keep these apart.
Nu am niciun prieten acolo.
I don't have any friends there. (niciun — plain 'no friend at all')
Nu am nici un prieten acolo, darămite mai mulți.
I don't have even one friend there, let alone several. (nici un — emphatic 'not even one')
In practice the one-word niciun is what you want the vast majority of the time; the two-word nici un is the marked, emphatic option you reach for only when "not even one" is the point. When in doubt, write it as one word.
All of them require nu
It bears repeating because it is the rule English speakers forget: every word on this page is a concord item, so the verb keeps its nu. This holds even when the negative word is the subject and fronted to the start of the clause — the verb still carries nu.
Nimeni nu mi-a explicat regulile.
Nobody explained the rules to me. (nimeni fronted — nu still required)
Niciun argument nu m-a convins.
Not a single argument convinced me. (niciun … nu)
Nimic nu mai e ca înainte.
Nothing is the way it used to be. (nimic fronted + nu)
Common Mistakes
Dropping nu because the pronoun already means "nobody/nothing" (the cardinal English-transfer error):
❌ Nimeni a venit.
Incorrect — even fronted, the verb keeps nu: Nimeni nu a venit.
✅ Nimeni nu a venit.
Nobody came.
Using nimeni where the dative nimănui is needed:
❌ Nu spun la nimeni.
Clumsy — the dative is built into nimănui, no need for 'la': Nu spun nimănui.
✅ Nu spun nimănui.
I'm telling nobody.
Getting the gender of the determiner wrong:
❌ Nu am niciun idee.
Incorrect — idee is feminine, so it takes nicio: Nu am nicio idee.
✅ Nu am nicio idee.
I have no idea.
Writing the determiner as two words by default:
❌ Nu am nici un ban.
Wrong in the neutral sense — the plain determiner is one word: Nu am niciun ban. (Two words = the emphatic 'not even one'.)
✅ Nu am niciun ban.
I don't have a single penny.
Using a positive pronoun for a negative meaning:
❌ Am văzut pe cineva. (intending 'I saw nobody')
Incorrect — that means 'I saw someone'; for the negative use: Nu am văzut pe nimeni.
✅ Nu am văzut pe nimeni.
I didn't see anybody.
Key Takeaways
- The negative pronouns are nimeni ("nobody") and nimic ("nothing"); the negative determiner is niciun / nicio ("no, not a single"), agreeing with the noun's gender.
- nimeni inflects for case: genitive-dative nimănui ("to nobody / nobody's") — even negatives bend for case in Romanian. nimic does not inflect; relations are carried by prepositions (din nimic).
- The determiner is one word niciun / nicio; the two-word nici un means the emphatic "not even one". Default to one word.
- All of these are concord items and require nu on the verb, including when fronted (Nimeni nu…, Niciun argument nu…).
- Don't substitute a positive pronoun (cineva, ceva) for the negative meaning, and don't add la before nimănui — the dative is already inside the word.
Now practice Romanian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Negation: An OverviewA1 — How Romanian says 'no' and 'not'. The preverbal nu negates any verb (Nu vorbesc 'I don't speak'); nu / ba nu answers 'no'; and — the feature English speakers must rewire — Romanian uses obligatory NEGATIVE CONCORD, where words like nimic, nimeni, niciodată, niciun co-occur WITH nu rather than replacing it (Nu văd nimic 'I see nothing'). This page maps the whole system before the detail pages.
- Negative Concord (Double Negation)A1 — Romanian piles up negatives that all agree, and the verbal nu is non-negotiable. Where English uses one negative ('I never tell anyone anything'), Romanian marks every element negative AND keeps nu on the verb: Nu spun nimănui niciodată nimic. What English calls a 'double-negative error' is the REQUIRED form here. This page teaches the system and how the negatives stack.
- The Particle 'nici' (not even, neither, nor)B1 — nici is the negative twin of the focus particle și ('even, too'): it covers 'not even' (Nici nu m-a salutat), the correlative 'neither … nor' (nici … nici), and 'me neither' (Nici eu). Whenever nici sits on an argument, the verb still needs nu (Nu vine nici Ion). This page maps all of its jobs and where it sits.
- Indefinite vs Negative Pronouns (cineva/nimeni, ceva/nimic)A2 — Every Romanian indefinite has a negative twin: cineva/nimeni (someone/nobody), ceva/nimic (something/nothing), undeva/nicăieri (somewhere/nowhere), cândva/niciodată (sometime/never), vreun/niciun (some/no). The negatives REQUIRE the verbal nu (Nu vine nimeni); the positives don't and appear in questions and affirmatives. Choosing the right twin is a polarity decision.
- Negative Polarity and Concord in DepthC1 — Romanian's negative words (nimic, nimeni, niciodată, nicăieri, niciun, nici) are strict negative-concord items: they demand the clausal nu even when they already mean 'nothing/nobody' (Nu vine nimeni). This page maps the full n-word set, the obligatory-nu rule, their behavior in non-veridical contexts (questions, conditionals, comparatives like mai mult decât oricând), and the positive-vs-negative polarity split (cineva/ceva vs nimeni/nimic) conditioned by veridicality — far subtler than 'double negation'.
- Genitive-Dative SyncretismB1 — Why Romanian's genitive and dative are a single form — fetei means both 'the girl's' and 'to the girl' — and how syntax, not morphology, tells you which case you're looking at.