Questions & Answers about Ništa ne jedem sada, jer nemam vremena.
Why is ne used together with ništa? Doesn’t ništa already mean nothing?
Yes, ništa means nothing, but Serbian normally uses negative concord. That means a negative word like ništa, niko, or nikad goes together with a negative verb.
So:
- Ništa ne jedem = I’m not eating anything / I eat nothing
- not Ništa jedem — that would be incorrect
This is very normal in Serbian and other Slavic languages.
Does jedem mean I eat or I am eating here?
It can mean both, depending on context.
Serbian does not have a separate tense like English I am eating. The present tense jedem can mean:
- I eat
- I am eating
In this sentence, sada makes it clear that the meaning is right now, so Ništa ne jedem sada means I’m not eating anything now.
Why is there no ja in the sentence?
Because Serbian verb endings usually already show the subject.
- jedem = I eat / I am eating
- nemam = I do not have
So ja is unnecessary unless you want extra emphasis or contrast.
For example:
- Ja ništa ne jedem sada = I’m not eating anything now
This sounds more emphatic, like I’m the one who isn’t eating now.