Double Negative - Slavic Languages

Slavic Languages

In Slavic languages other than Slavonic, multiple negatives are grammatically correct ways to express negation, while a single negative is often incorrect. In complex sentences, every part that could be grammatically negated should be negative. For example, in Serbian, Niko nikada nigde ništa nije uradio ("Nobody never didn't do nothing nowhere") means "Nobody has ever done anything, anywhere", and Nisam tamo nikad išla ("I never did not go there") means "I have never been there".

A single negation, while syntactically correct, may result in a very unusual meaning or make no sense at all. Saying "I saw nobody" in Polish (Widziałem nikogo) in place of the more usual "I did not see nobody" (Nikogo nie widziałem) might mean "I saw an instance of nobody" or "I saw Mr. Nobody" but would not have its plain English meaning. Likewise, in Slovenian, saying "I do not know anyone" (Ne poznam kogarkoli) in place of "I do not know no one" (Ne poznam nikogar) has the connotation "I do not know just anyone" — i.e., I know someone important or special.