To express "neither... nor" in Croatian, you use the coordinating conjunction pair ni... ni..., placing ni right before each option.
| neither, nor | ni |
Mandatory Double Negation
The most important rule to remember is that Croatian strictly requires double negation. Whenever you use ni... ni..., the main verb of the sentence must also be negated.
This means you will pair ni... ni... with the negative particle ne, or a negative verb form like nema (there isn't) or nije (is not). Literally, you are saying something like, "I do not hear neither thunder nor the wind."
| I hear neither thunder nor the wind. | Ne čujem ni grmljavinu ni vjetar. |
| Neither rain nor snow is falling today. | Danas ne pada ni kiša ni snijeg. |
| I am neither cold nor hot. | Nije mi ni hladno ni vruće. |
As the Subject
Even if the "neither... nor" phrase is the subject of your sentence, the double negation rule still applies. In English, we say "Neither the mother nor the father understands", but in Croatian, the verb must be negated (e.g., "do not understand").
| Neither the wind nor the earthquake can destroy the city. | Ni vjetar ni potres ne mogu uništiti grad. |
| Neither the mother nor the father understands the child. | Ni majka ni otac ne razumiju dijete. |
With Prepositions
If your choices involve a preposition (such as od, meaning "from"), the preposition directly follows ni and is repeated for both options: ni + [preposition] + [noun] ni + [preposition] + [noun].
| This field is protected from neither drought nor frost. | Ovo polje nije zaštićeno ni od suše ni od mraza. |