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### Negative Adjectives and the Double Negative

In Russian, negative pronouns that start with **ни-** require a "double negative." Whenever you use a word meaning "no kind of" or "nobody's", the sentence's verb must also be negated with **не** or the absence word **нет**.

These negative pronouns act like adjectives, changing their endings to match the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify.

### "Not Any": никакой

The pronoun **никакой** means "not any" or "no kind of." It is used to strongly emphasize the complete absence of a thing or quality. It declines exactly like the question word **какой**.

When paired with the word **нет** (there is no), the noun and its modifying pronoun must both take the genitive case. For a masculine noun like **смысл** (sense), this becomes **никакого смысла**.

{{item:915471}}

Negative sentences often force direct objects into the genitive case as well, even without the word *нет*. For a feminine noun like **вина** (guilt), the genitive form is **никакой вины**.

{{item:915475}}

### "Nobody's": ничей

To express that something belongs to no one, use **ничей**. It declines exactly like the question word **чей** (whose). 

Here are its forms in the nominative (dictionary) case:

| Gender / Number | Form |
| --- | --- |
| Masculine | ничей |
| Feminine | ничья |
| Neuter | ничьё |
| Plural | ничьи |

{{item:915477}}

### Working in the Plural

Both **никакой** and **ничей** have plural forms. The genitive plural of **никакой** is **никаких** (used here with **следов** — traces). Notice how multiple negative words (**Никто не ... никаких**) can stack together perfectly in Russian to create a single negative meaning.

{{item:915479}}

Here is a sentence that combines both pronouns: the feminine nominative **ничья** and the genitive plural **никаких**.

{{item:915481}}

### Using Other Cases

Just like other adjectives, **ничей** will decline to match its noun's case. For example, after **нет**, the feminine form **ничья** must change to its genitive form, **ничьей**.

{{item:915485}}

Finally, when describing plural nouns in the nominative case (like **деньги** — money), use the plural form **ничьи**.

{{item:915487}}

Negative adjectival pronouns (никакой, ничей)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

predicative

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative (это)

Noun gender

Soft-sign nouns (-ь)

Subject pronouns (я, ты, он...)

Yes/no questions (да / нет)

Basic interrogatives (кто / что)

Basic negation (не)

Coordinating conjunctions (и / а)

Possessive pronouns (мой, твой, наш, ваш)

Demonstrative pronouns (этот, эта, это)

Adjective agreement

Which and whose (какой, чей)

First conjugation verbs, singular (-ать)

First conjugation verbs, plural (-ать)

Second conjugation verbs (-ить)

Irregular present tense verbs

Adverbs of manner (как, очень)

Locations in prepositional case (в / на)

Prepositional case modifiers (-ом, -ой)

Topics of speech (о, об)

Direct objects (-у, -ю)

Direct object pronouns (меня, тебя)

Verbs of motion (идти, ехать)

Destination (куда, в, на)

Plural nouns (-ы, -и, -а, -я)

Irregular plural nouns (друзья, дети)

Plural adjectives and pronouns (-ые, -ие)

Numbers 1 to 10 (один, два, три)

Possession with pronouns (у меня есть)

Possession with nouns (-а, -я, -ы, -и)

Genitive of negation (нет)

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Quantities with mass nouns (сколько, много, мало)

Animate direct objects

The past tense of to be (был, была, было, были)

Regular past tense verbs

Time sequence expressions (вчера, завтра, раньше, потом)

Verb aspect in the past tense

Dative personal pronouns (мне, тебе, ему)

Expressing likes (нравится, нравятся)

Absence (нет)

Expressing age (год, года, лет)

Indirect objects (-у, -ю, -е)

Modal verbs (хотеть, мочь)

Reason and contrast (поэтому, но)

Double negation (ничего, никогда)

Reflexive verbs (-ся, -сь)

Polite requests and instructions (-ите, -йте)

Days of the week (в + Accusative)

Compound future tense (буду...)

Simple future tense

Accompaniment (с)

Multidirectional verbs of motion (ходить, ездить)

Greetings and goodbyes (здравствуйте, привет)

Thank you and sorry (спасибо, извините)

Countries and languages (русский, английский)

Meeting people (меня зовут, как дела)

Public transport (трамвай, остановка)

Left, right and the compass (слева, справа)

Places in the city (цирк, зоопарк)

Fruit and vegetables (помидор, огурец)

Post and travel (открытка, чемодан)

Family and relatives (внук, родственник)

Jobs and professions (инженер, продавец)

Sport and games (футбол, теннис)

Describing people (умный, сильный)

Health and the body (болен, здоровье)

The months of the year (январь, февраль)

Accusative feminine and inanimate adjectives (-ую, -юю)

Accusative animate masculine adjectives (-ого, -его)

Short-form adjectives (готов, занят)

Personal obligation (должен, должна)

Professions in the instrumental case

Genitive singular adjectives and possessives

Prepositions of absence and purpose (без, для)

Dative singular adjectives and possessives

Impersonal states (мне холодно)

Impersonal obligation (надо, нужно)

Impersonal permission (можно / нельзя)

Instrumental adjectives and pronouns

Reciprocal verbs (с + Instrumental)

Reflexive possessive pronouns (свой)

Reflexive pronouns (себя)

Specific indefinite pronouns (-то)

Non-specific indefinite pronouns (-нибудь)

Negative pronouns (никто / ничто)

Numbers 11 to 20

Question	Answer
absolutely	абсолютно
not any / no kind of	никакой
sense / point (meaning)	смысл
There is absolutely no sense in this.	В этом абсолютно нет никакого смысла.
to deny	отрицать
to admit / to acknowledge	признавать
guilt / fault	вина
He denies everything and does not admit any guilt.	Он всё отрицает и не признаёт никакой вины.
nobody's	ничей
This cat is nobody's, it just lives here.	Этот кот ничей, он просто здесь живёт.
trace / mark	след
Nobody found any traces.	Никто не нашёл никаких следов.
claim / complaint	претензия
I do not need anyone's help, and I have no claims.	Мне не нужна ничья помощь, и у меня нет никаких претензий.
harm / damage	вред
The director admits that the project brings no harm.	Директор признаёт, что проект не приносит никакого вреда.
Besides the director, nobody sees any sense in this.	Кроме директора, никто не видит в этом никакого смысла.
Someone made a mistake, but it is nobody's fault.	Кто-то сделал ошибку, но в этом нет ничьей вины.
Do you deny that there is harm from this medicine?	Вы отрицаете, что от этого лекарства есть вред?
This is nobody's money, it was just lying on the street.	Это ничьи деньги, они просто лежали на улице.
The police are looking for a trace, but find absolutely nothing.	Полиция ищет след, но не находит абсолютно ничего.
I have absolutely no claims against you.	У меня нет к вам абсолютно никаких претензий.