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Questions & Answers about В комнате нет ни телевизора, ни компьютера.
Why is нет used here to express absence, and how does it differ from the negative particle не?
Нет is an impersonal verb meaning “there is not” or “there are no,” and it always takes a noun in the genitive to indicate what is missing. By contrast, не is a simple negator that attaches to verbs (or adjectives) to negate an action or quality (for example, не люблю “I don’t like”). You cannot replace нет with не here because you’re not negating a verb; you’re stating that something simply does not exist in the room.
Why are the nouns телевизора and компьютера in the genitive case after нет?
After нет, the direct “object” of absence is always in the genitive case. In Russian, expressing “there is not something” uses нет + Genitive. So телевизор (nominative) → телевизора (genitive singular), and компьютер → компьютера.
What is the function of ни … ни in this sentence, and how is it different from и … и?
Ни … ни is a correlative pair meaning “neither … nor.” It emphasizes that both items are absent. By contrast, и … и simply means “both … and” (affirmative coordination), e.g., В комнате есть и телевизор, и компьютер (“In the room there is both a TV and a computer”).
Could we omit one of the ни particles and just say В комнате нет телевизора и компьютера?
You could say that, but it would sound like a plain list (“no TV and computer”), not a clear “neither … nor” construction. It’s more idiomatic and unambiguous to use ни before each noun when you want to stress that each item is absent.
Is the word order flexible? Could we say Телевизора и компьютера нет в комнате?
Yes. Russian allows relatively free word order for emphasis. Телевизора и компьютера нет в комнате is grammatically correct; it shifts the focus onto what is missing (a TV and a computer) rather than where.
Why are телевизора and компьютера singular instead of plural?
Here you’re talking about typical single pieces of equipment (“a TV, a computer”). If you wanted to say there are no multiple TVs or computers at all, you’d use the genitive plural: В комнате нет телевизоров и компьютеров. Using singular genitive is most common when referring to ordinary presence or absence of one item of each kind.