Questions & Answers about Niemand sê iets nie.
Why does the sentence have two negatives: niemand and nie?
This is one of the most important features of Afrikaans: standard Afrikaans usually uses double negation.
So even though niemand already means nobody / no one, the sentence still ends with nie:
- Niemand sê iets nie.
That final nie is required in normal standard Afrikaans.
A useful way to think about it is:
- niemand = the negative word inside the sentence
- final nie = the marker that closes the negation
This can feel strange to an English speaker, because English usually avoids this kind of pattern in standard usage.
If niemand already means nobody, why do we use iets instead of a negative word like niks?