Breakdown of Nie jemy ani ryżu, ani makaronu.
nie
no / not
jeść
to eat
ani
neither / nor
ryż
rice
makaron
pasta
Questions & Answers about Nie jemy ani ryżu, ani makaronu.
Why is there a Nie at the start of the sentence if ani ... ani already means "neither ... nor"?
Polish requires double negation. When you use negative words like ani (neither/nor) or nigdy (never), the main verb must also be negated with nie. Literally, this sentence says "We don't eat neither rice nor pasta."
Could we drop the word nie and just say Jemy ani ryżu, ani makaronu?
No, that would be grammatically incorrect in Polish. Unlike in English where "neither" makes the sentence negative on its own, Polish relies on the negated verb (nie jemy) to set the negative meaning of the whole sentence.
Why do we say ryżu and makaronu instead of the basic forms ryż and makaron?
This is the Genitive of negation in action. Normally, eating something takes the Accusative case (like Jemy ryż). But because the verb is negated by nie, the objects change to the Genitive case. Both are masculine inanimate nouns that take the -u ending here.
Is the comma before the second ani mandatory?
Yes. In Polish punctuation, whenever you repeat a conjunction in a pair like ani ... ani (neither ... nor) or albo ... albo (either ... or), you must place a comma right before the second one.
Learn Nie jemy ani ryżu, ani makaronu and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free