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"not" in seven languages

Meaningnot

Spanish

no

/no/

inherited

The same word as the answer 'no': no sé.

French

ne … pas

/nə pa/

inherited

Ne is NŌN worn down; pas is Latin PASSUM 'a step'. Speech usually drops ne: je sais pas.

Italian

non

/non/

inherited

The answer is no; the negation before a verb is non.

Portuguese

não

/nɐ̃w/

inherited

Also the answer 'no'; speech often repeats it at the end: não sei, não.

Romanian

nu

/nu/

inherited

Catalan

no

/nɔ/

inherited

Pas can reinforce it, as in French: no ho sé pas.

English

not

/nɑt/

native English · Old English nāwiht 'no thing' (nought)

Like French pas, English not began as an emphatic 'not a whit'.

English → ItaliannotnonNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

NŌN‘not’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

NŌN survives in every sister, but French wore it down to ne and propped it up with pas 'a step' (je ne marche pas, 'I don't walk a step'), until pas did the real work. Italian and French keep 'not' apart from the answer 'no'; Spanish uses no for both.

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In a sentence

  • esNo lo sé.
  • frJe ne sais pas.
  • itNon lo so.
  • ptNão sei.
  • roNu știu.
  • caNo ho sé.
  • enI don't know.

More words from the same Latin

More in Little words

All Little words words