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"no, not any" in seven languages

Meaningno, not any

Spanish

ningún

/ninˈɡun/

inherited

fem.: ninguna

Ninguno when it stands alone: no tengo ninguno.

French

aucun

/okɛ̃/

other source · spoken Latin *ALICŪNUM 'some one'

fem.: aucune

Positive in Old French; it turned negative by keeping company with ne, like rien and personne.

Italian

nessuno

/nesˈsuno/

other source · Latin NE IPSE ŪNUS 'not even one'

fem.: nessuna

Nessun before most nouns, like the article un: nessun problema.

Portuguese

nenhum

/neˈɲũ/

inherited

fem.: nenhuma

Romanian

niciun

/niˈtʃun/

inherited

fem.: nicio

nici 'nor' + un 'one'; nu comes before the verb.

Catalan

cap

/kap/

other source · Latin CAPUT 'head'

Invariable. Literally 'head', as in 'not a head (of anything)'; ningun, ninguna is literary.

English

no

/noʊ/

Indo-European kin · PIE *ne 'not' + *óynos 'one' (Old English nān)

Built exactly like NEC ŪNUM: Old English nān is ne + ān 'not one', and survives as none.

English → Italianno, not anynessunoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

NEC ŪNUM‘not one’

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

The story

Spanish says 'not one' (NEC ŪNUM, like English none), Italian 'not even one'; French aucun was originally 'some one', made negative only by the ne beside it. It agrees with the noun and is almost always singular: ninguna idea, aucune idée, nessuna idea.

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In a sentence

  • esLos domingos no hay ningún autobús.
  • frIl n'y a aucun bus le dimanche.
  • itLa domenica non c'è nessun autobus.
  • ptNão tem nenhum ônibus no domingo.
  • roDuminica nu circulă niciun autobuz.
  • caEls diumenges no hi ha cap autobús.
  • enThere are no buses on Sundays.

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