Questions & Answers about Она ничего не знала.
Why are there two negative words (ничего and не) when English only uses one?
In Russian, double negation is mandatory. When you use a negative word like ничего (nothing), you must also make the verb negative by putting не (not) in front of it. A literal translation would be 'She didn't know nothing,' which is incorrect in standard English but perfectly correct in Russian!
Why does the letter г in ничего sound like an English 'v'?
In Russian, the letter г is pronounced like a 'v' when it appears in the specific endings -его or -ого. This happens frequently with pronouns and adjectives, so ничего is always pronounced 'ni-che-VO'.
Why does the verb знала end in -а?
Can I change the word order to 'Она не знала ничего'?
Yes, you can! Она не знала ничего is grammatically correct and means exactly the same thing. However, placing the negative word ничего right before the не plus the verb is the most natural and common word order in conversational Russian.