Questions & Answers about Мы ничего не будем делать.
How does the future tense work in this sentence?
To say what we "will" do, Russian uses the future tense of the helper verb "to be" (быть) plus the dictionary form (infinitive) of the main action. Here, будем means "we will", and делать means "to do". Together, будем делать means "we will do".
Why does this sentence use both ничего and не? Doesn't that mean "we will not do nothing"?
In English that would be a double negative, but in Russian, double negatives are absolutely required! When you use a negative word like ничего (nothing/anything), you must also put не (not) in front of the verb. Literally, this translates to "We nothing not will do."
Why is не placed before будем instead of делать?
The word не (not) usually goes directly before the verb it negates. In a compound future tense, it belongs right in front of the helper verb (будем), not the main action (делать). So you say не будем делать.
I noticed ничего is pronounced with a "v" sound instead of a "g". Is that a rule?
Yes! When you see the endings -его or -ого in Russian words, the letter г is pronounced like an English "v". That is why ничего is pronounced "nee-che-vo".
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