Niks bly ewig nie.

not

Breakdown of Niks bly ewig nie.

• bly: to remain
• niks: nothing
• ewig: eternal; forever

Questions & Answers about Niks bly ewig nie.

What does each word in Niks bly ewig nie mean?

A literal breakdown is:

• Niks = nothing
• bly = stay, remain
• ewig = eternally, forever
• nie = the negation particle used in Afrikaans negative sentences

So word-for-word, it is something like Nothing remains forever not, but natural English would be Nothing lasts forever.

Why is there a nie at the end if niks already means nothing?

Because standard Afrikaans usually uses a double-negation pattern.

With a negative word like niks, niemand, or geen, Afrikaans still often adds a closing nie later in the clause. So:

• Niks bly ewig nie = correct, standard Afrikaans

This does not create a positive meaning the way a double negative sometimes can in English. It is just how Afrikaans normally marks negation.

What does bly mean here? Does it really mean stay?