ni

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• Audio (General American):

  (file)

ni

1. (grammar) Initialism of noun inanimate.

• na
• nad
• nid

• -in, -in', IN, i'n, in, in-

ni

1. you (singular)

• IPA^(key): /ˈni/ [ˈnɪ]

ní

1. our
   • Saytun Qhuraan kee kay maqnah tarjamaty Qafar afal tani [The clear Qur'an and its explanation translated into the Afar language]‎^[2], Suurat Al-Faatica, verse 5:

     Diggah nanu Ni Rabbow koo inkittosnaah Qibaada dibuk koo caglisna, nanu ni-caagiidah inkih cato koo esserra.

     Our God, with strength we make you whole, only you we give [our] adoration, we as one ask you for help with our afairs.

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “ni”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[3], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

• IPA^(key): /nʲi/

ni (Kana spelling ニ)

1. tree
2. wood

• cikuni

• tani
• nani
• nime

From Proto-Albanian *nū, from Proto-Indo-European *nū (“now”). Cognate to Sanskrit नू (nū, “now”).^[1] Often occurs in coordination with other particles, compare tani, nani, nime.

ni

1. now

   Synonyms: tash, tani, hë, nani, nime

• nu

ni

1. (Mpakwithi) place
2. (Mpakwithi) camp

• Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 187

• nã

From Vulgar Latin nīs, from Latin nos. Compare Romanian ne (older form nă).

ni (unstressed accusative and reflexive form of noi)

1. (direct object, first-person plural) us

• noi (stressed accusative)

ni (unstressed dative and reflexive form of noi)

1. (indirect object, first-person plural) (to) us

• nau (stressed dative)

• vi

ni f (uncountable)

1. nu (name for the letter of the Greek alphabet: Ν and ν)

From Proto-Bodo-Garo *nɯi⁴ (“two”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-ni-s (“two”). Cognate with S'gaw Karen ခံ (khee), Tibetan གཉིས (gnyis), Sikkimese ཉི (nyi), Nuosu ꑍ (nyip), Burmese နှစ် (hnac).

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni (Bengali script নি)

1. two

• rongni
• tu
• do

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary.

ni

1. soul, life, spirit

ni

1. if

   Ni taara sugu la, i bɛ ne ba ye.

   If you go to the market, you will see my mother

2. when

• Richard Nci Diarra, Lexique bambara-français-anglais, December 13, 2010

From Proto-Basque *ni.

• IPA^(key): /ni/ [ni]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: ni

ni

1. First-person singular personal pronoun; I
   • c. 1808, Juan Bautista Aguirre, Eracusaldiac [Lessons]‎^[4], Tolosa, published 1850, page 473:

     […] Jauna: ez naiz ni beñere izan zu neure viotzean artzeco diña […]

     [ […] Jauna, ez naiz ni beñere izan zu nere biotzean artzeko diña […] ]

     […] Lord, not even once have I been worth of belonging to your heart […]

   • 1989, Gorka Aulestia, Basque-English Dictionary, Douglas: William A, page 53:

     Ni errege izan nintzen.

     I was king.

   • 2013, Patricio Urquizu Sarasua, Gramática de la lengua vasca, Universidad Nacional de Educación de Distancia, page 154:

     Ni etorri naiz.

     I have come.

• “ni”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], Euskaltzaindia
• “ni”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

ni

1. Synonym of ani (“water”)

• David Kaufman, Tanêks-Tąyosą Kadakathi: Biloxi-English Dictionary (University of Kansas, 2011, →ISBN, page 34

From Proto-Brythonic *ni, from Proto-Celtic *snīs.

ni

1. we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

From Proto-Brythonic *nei, from Proto-Celtic *neɸūss, from Proto-Indo-European *népōts.

ni m (plural nied)

1. nephew

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ni]
• Rhymes: -i

ni

1. neither, nor

ni

1. not even, even

ni f (plural nis)

1. nu; the Greek letter Ν (lowercase ν)

• IPA^(key): [ˈɲɪ]

ni f

1. accusative singular of ona

From Old Norse níu, from Proto-Germanic *newun, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”).

• IPA^(key): /niː/, [niːˀ]

ni

1. nine

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəj.

ni

1. day

• Ross Perlin (2019) A Grammar of Trung‎^[5], Santa Barbara: University of California

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni

1. they

• Leenhardt, M. (1946) Langues et dialectes de l'Austro-Mèlanèsie. Cited in: "ⁿDuᵐbea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.
• Shintani, T.L.A. & Païta, Y. (1990) Dictionnaire de la langue de Païta, Nouméa: Sociéte d'etudes historiques de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Cited in: "Drubea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

ni

1. this.

ni

1. this.

From Italian noi, French nous, Spanish nos, Latin nos, plus the i of personal pronouns.

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni (first-person plural, accusative nin, possessive nia)

1. we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

   Ni batis lin.

   We hit him.

2. ourselves

   Ni diris al ni.

   We said to ourselves.

From Middle French ny, from Old French ne, from Latin nec. Compare Italian né, Catalan and Spanish ni, Portuguese nem.

• IPA^(key): /ni/

• Audio:

  (file)

ni

1. neither; nor
   • 1898, Revue du monde invisible, page 339:

     Notre imagination, si ardente qu’on la suppose, ne peut ni guérir instantanément une lésion organique, ni ressusciter un mort.

     Our imagination, so ardent as we suppose, can neither instantaneously heal an organic lesion, nor resuscitate the dead.

   • 1876, Bulletins et mémoires de la Société médicale des hôpitaux de Paris, Volume 12:

     […] les constitutions accidentelles ou intercurrentes ne sont ni moins importantes ni plus faciles à expliquer.

     […] accidental or intercurrent constitutions are neither less important nor easier to explain.

   • c. 1656–1662, Blaise Pascal, “Preuves par discours I – Papier original : RO 3-1 r° / v° et RO 7-1 r° / v°”, in Pensées [Thoughts]‎^[6]:

     Mais nous ne connaissons ni l’existence ni la nature de Dieu, parce qu’il n’a ni étendue, ni bornes.

     But we know neither the existence nor the nature of God, because He has neither extent nor limits.

• Used with the negative particle ne.
• Chiefly used at least twice in the same sentence the same way neither and nor would be used in an English sentence, such as ni riche, ni pauvre (“neither rich nor poor”).

• soit

• “ni”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

ni

1. Romanization of 𐌽𐌹

From Proto-Austronesian *ni (“marker of possession”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈni/ [ˈni]
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: ni

ni (Hanunoo spelling ᜨᜲ)

1. of; by

   ti luka ni Bado ― lime tube of Bado

   Kinaon ni Bado ti burot.

   The wild yam was eaten by Bado.

• Conklin, Harold C. (1953) Hanunóo-English Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics), volume 9, London, England: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 198

• níi

From Proto-Chadic, from Proto-Afroasiatic *ˀanāku.

• IPA^(key): /níː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [níː]

nī

1. I (1st person singular pronoun)

• mínì (1st person singular indirect object enclitic pronoun)
• nì (1st person singular independent object pronoun)
• -wá (1st person singular possessive enclitic pronoun)

Native word of debated origin:^[1]

1. Shortened from nézd (“look!”) ~ nízd (a dialectal variant).
2. An onomatopoeia expressing astonishment.

• IPA^(key): [ˈni]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ni

ni

1. (colloquial) lo!, look!

   Itt van ni! ― Look! Here it is!

Most of the time it is used in its duplicated form: nini!

• ni in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

ni

1. water

• Idi Organised Phonology Data

ni

1. (personal) we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈni/, [ˈni]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈni/, [ˈni]
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: ni

ni

1. Alternative form of niin
   • 1937, V. A. Tetjurev, translated by N. I. Molotsova, Loonnontiito (ensimäin osa): oppikirja alkușkoulun kolmatta klaassaa vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 6:

     Jot saavva tiitä mitä ono pintamaas, ni pittää tehä mokomat oopьtat.

     In order to get to know what is in the topsoil, (that's why) it's important to perform such experiments.

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 340

• nec

From French and Spanish ni, from Latin nec (“and not”).

ni

1. and not.

   Io non sape, ni vole saper ― I don’t know, and I don’t want to know

2. Neither, nor.

   Illo ni me place ni displace ― It neither pleases me nor displeases me

3. And, or (following a "with no" or "without").

   Nos debe resister sin aqua ni alimento ― We must resist with no water or food

• IPA^(key): /ˈni/
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: nì

Blend of no +‎ sì.

ni

1. (informal) neither yes nor no

 

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

ni

Wikipedia ^it

ni m or f (invariable)

1. nu (Greek letter)

• in, in-

ni

1. The hiragana syllable に (ni) or the katakana syllable ニ (ni) in Hepburn romanization.

• nina

ni

1. water

• The Papuan Languages of New Guinea (1986, →ISBN

From Proto-Siouan *wa-rį́• (“water”).

ni

1. water
2. any liquid
3. river

• Kansa dictionary
• Quapaw dictionary, in notes: "ni (ni) - water, river, liquid (Kanza)"

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni

1. you (singular)

ni

1. water

• World Lexicon of Grammaticalization (2002, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): [niː]

ni

1. coconut

• Allahverdi Verdizade (2019) “ni”, in Lamboya word list‎^[7], Leiden: LexiRumah

From Old Latin nei, from Proto-Italic *nei, from Proto-Indo-European *néy (“not”), from *ne. Cognates include Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐌹 (nei), Lithuanian nei, Old Church Slavonic ни (ni), Old Irish ní and Sanskrit न (ná). See also nē.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /niː/, [niː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ni/, [niː]

nī (not comparable)

1. not, if...not, unless- an absolutely negative particle like ne so only in combinations

• quid nī? (why not?)
• nīmīrum (not wonderful)
• nisi

nī

1. not, that not, unless; like ne in imperative and intentional clauses

   Ni quid tibi hinc in spem referas. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Vinum aliudve quid ni laudato. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Numa constituit, ut pisces, qui squamosi non essent, ni pollucerent ... ni qui ad polluctum emerent. ― Numa ordained scaleless fish not to be served nor bought for serving.

From Latin nec.

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni

1. nor
2. neither...nor
3. either...or

From Proto-Finnic *nügüt. Cognates include Finnish nyt.

ni

1. now

From Proto-Loloish *(ʔ)-ne¹, from Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔnəj¹/³, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəj (“sun; day”).

• IPA^(key): [ni³³]

ni 

1. (Yao'an) day

• Merrifield, Judith, Merrifield, Scott (2018) “Query for ni”, in Yao'an Loxrlavu – English Dictionary (in Chinese), SIL International

From Middle High German nie, from Old High German nio. Cognate with German nie.

• IPA^(key): /niː/

ni

1. never

• (never): nimools, keemol, keemools

• IPA^(key): /ni/
• Rhymes: -ni, -i

ni (Jawi spelling ني)

1. Colloquial form of ini

ni (Jawi spelling ني)

1. Colloquial form of ini

ni

1. Nonstandard spelling of nī.
2. Nonstandard spelling of ní.
3. Nonstandard spelling of nǐ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of nì.

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

From Proto-Micronesian *niu, from Proto-Oceanic *niuʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

• (phonetic) IPA^(key): [nʲi]
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /nʲij/
• Bender phonemes: {niy}

ni

1. coconut tree

• iu (coconut)

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

ni

1. Alternative form of ne

ni

1. Alternative form of ne

ni

1. Alternative spelling of ní

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *nii (“sun; day”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəj (“sun; day”).

ni

1. sun
2. day
3. time

ni

1. aunt

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940) “ni”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society

ni (first person singular)

1. singular first-person pronoun I

From Proto-Micronesian *niu, from Proto-Oceanic *niuʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

ni

1. coconut tree

• ni pwespwes
• ni rei
• ni roam
• ni soal
• ni wahssa

• Harrison, Sheldon P., Mokilese-English Dictionary, University of Hawaii Press 1977

ni

1. second person singular pronoun you

   Shí dóó ni ayóo ałk’is niidlį́.

   You and I are really good friends.

2. second person singular possessive pronoun yours

   Díí naaltsoos éí ni.

   This book is yours.

The verb in Navajo incorporates information about person, and many sentences may thus not have explicit independent pronouns. For instance:

• Hooghandi naniná.
• Ni éí hooghandi naniná.

Both sentences are grammatically complete, and mean essentially the same thing: you are at home. The verb naniná is in the second-person form, so the pronoun can be safely omitted, as in the first sentence. This is similar to pronoun dropping in other languages where the verb specifies person, such as Spanish. Meanwhile, the explicit use of ni in the second sentence emphasizes that the speaker is talking about you. This can be thought of as roughly equivalent to the use of emphasis in English: while the first sentence comes across as you're at home, the second one is more like you, you're at home.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ŋja.

ni

1. fish

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-ni-s.

ni

1. two

• Naxi Dictionary by T.M. Pinson, Lijiang 2012

ni

1. water

• transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66 : /niː/
• Margaret Manning, Naomi Saggers, A Tentative Phonemic Analysis of Ningil (SIL), in Phonologies of five Austronesian languages (Richard Loving, John M. Clifton; 1975) : /ni/

From Old Norse níu (whence also Danish ni, Icelandic níu, Faroese níggju and Swedish nio) from Proto-Germanic *newun, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥. Cognate with Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun); Old English niġon (English nine); Old Frisian nigun (West Frisian njoggen); Old High German niun (German neun).

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni

1. nine

• førtini
• nittini

• niende

• “ni” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• nio, nie (dialectal)

From Old Norse níu.

ni

1. nine

• førtini
• nittini

• “ni” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

ni

1. water

• Paul Rivet, Nouvelle contribution à l’étude de l’ethnologie précolombienne de Colombie, Journal de la Société des Américanistes volume 35, pages 25-39 (1943), page 26

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈɲi/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈɲi/

ni

1. dual accusative of oně

• ne

From Proto-Germanic *ne.

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni

1. not

• nein

• Middle High German: ne
  • German: nee (dialectal)

ni

1. Alternative spelling of ní

From Proto-Siouan *wa-rį́• (“water”).

ni

1. water

• Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Francis La Flesche, The Omaha Tribe (1970), page 166

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. this (agr: prox fem / prox non-nom masc)

• Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “ni”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[8], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. these (agr: prox)

• Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “ni”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[9], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. it
2. she (prox fem nom)

• Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “ni”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[10], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ni/

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. they (prox nom)

• Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “ni”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[11], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

 

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

ni

Wikipedia ^pl

• IPA^(key): /ˈɲi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: ni
• Homophone: -ni

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ni.

ni

1. (archaic) Alternative form of ani

ni

1. (dialectal) Alternative form of nie

See ny.

ni n (indeclinable)

1. Alternative form of ny

• ni in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ni in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from Ancient Greek νῦ (nû).

• Hyphenation: ni

ni m (plural nis)

1. nu (the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet)

ni

1. Romanization of ᚾᛁ

• IPA^(key): /ni˧/

• vni

ni

1. to pour; to water.

• vni

ni

1. headhair.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəj. Cognate with Burmese နေ (ne) and နေ့ (ne.), Old Chinese 日 (*njiɡ).

ni

1. day (24 hour).

• yáng (“daytime”)

Inherited from Latin.

ni

1. Alternative form of ne (dative of noi): to us

This form is used when ne (which is dative) is combined with the following accusatives:

• îl (the accusative of el, contracted as ni-l)
• îi (the accusative of ei, contracted as ni-i)
• le (the accusative of ele)
• se (the reflexive accusative of all third-person pronouns)

• li
• vi

Borrowed from Hungarian ni.

ni

1. (Transylvania) lo!, look!, behold!

   Ni la el! ― Look at him!

ni

1. some (plural indefinite article)

From Proto-Slavic *ni (“nor, not”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *nej, from Proto-Indo-European *ney. Compare ni-, ne.

ni (Cyrillic spelling ни)

1. (emphasizes negation) even, either

   ni ja to ne znam — even I don't know that; I don't know that either

   Nisam ni htio čuti njegov prijedlog.

   I didn't even want to hear his proposal.

ni (Cyrillic spelling ни)

1. (shortening of niti) neither, nor

   ona nije ni pametna ni(ti) marljiva — she is neither smart nor industrious

   ni traga ni glasa o .. — not a trace about ..

   ni kriv ni dužan — completely innocent (lit. neither guilty nor indebted)

• nni

• IPA^(key): [ni]
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): [nɪ]

ni

1. us, accusative of nuàutri
2. us, dative of nuàutri
3. us, reflexive of nuàutri

• nuàutri
• vi

• IPA^(key): /nìː/

ní

1. negative third-person singular present of bíti

• IPA^(key): /ˈni/ [ˈni]
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: ni

From Old Spanish nin, from Latin nec, apocopated form of neque, from Proto-Indo-European *nekʷe (“and not, neither, nor”), from *ne (“not”) + *-kʷe (“and”). Compare Asturian and Galician nin, Catalan and French ni, Portuguese nem, Italian né, Dalmatian ne. Indo-European cognates include Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌷 (nih) and Irish nach.

ni

1. (coordinating) neither... nor

   Antonym: o ... o

   No tengo ni dinero ni tiempo.

   I have neither money nor time.

   1. (with three or more referents) none of...

      Ni Juan, ni Pedro, ni Felipe te darán la razón.

      None of John, Peter, or Phillip will give you the reason.

2. nor, or

   No descansa de día ni de noche.

   He doesn't rest during the day nor during the night.

ni

1. not even

   No descansaba ni por un minuto

   I didn't rest even for a minute.

   Ni yo sé qué significa esta palabra.

   Not even I know what this word means.

ni f (plural níes)

1. nu; the Greek letter Ν, ν

   Synonym: ny

• “ni”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

ni

1. positive degree present and gnomic (all persons, numbers, and classes) of -wa (“to be”)

Since 1661, through rebracketing of the 2nd plural verb suffix -(e)n and the older pronoun I ("ye"), e.g. vissten I > visste ni (“did you know”). Compare Icelandic þér and þið which developed similarly.

The Old Swedish ī, īr derives from Old Norse *īʀ (East Norse variant of ér) from Proto-Germanic *jīz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́. Compare Danish I.

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /niː/
• Rhymes: -iː

ni

1. you (plural nominative)

   Du är bara en person, men ni där borta är fyra personer

   You are just one person, but you/you guys over there are four people

2. you (second-person singular nominative formal) (capitalized Ni, rare in modern use)
   1. (obsolete) title used when addressing a person of lower social rank

      –Ni kan börja med att städa kontoret, fröken Andersson.
      –Javisst, Herr Direktör.

      –You can start with cleaning the office, miss Andersson.
      –Certainly, Mr. Director

   2. (colloquial, perceived formal, derogatory to some) by some considered a respectful alternative to du (“you”), especially when addressing customers or the elderly

      Vill ni ha en påse med köpet?

      Do you want a bag with your purchase?

Both ni and er are second person plural forms, but can also be used as formal second person singular, as in the German Sie or French vous. It may sometimes also be capitalized (Ni, Er). The courteous "ni" was introduced in Swedish around the year 1900 as an alternative to the more complicated pattern of addressing others in the third person singular by their appropriate titles. This required knowledge of social status, occupation, educations, etc. with terms like fru (“Mrs.”) or fröken (“Ms.”), greve (“count”), kamrer (“accountant”), kandidat (“bachelor's degree holder”), etc. However this "ni-reform" was not well liked and when authority came to use the word ni to their subordinates the word got a condescending undertone. Interestingly enough the older I, from which ni was originally formed, was used alongside ni all along (and is still in use in some dialects) but never got the condescending undertone that ni got. This was all phased out gradually during the 1960s and 1970s in the so-called du-reformen, (“the you-reform”). In contemporary Swedish, du is universal and may be used to address anyone, regardless of differences in social status or age.

Ni is used occasionally by younger speakers to address customers in order to be formal and polite. However this is often seen as being overly formal and too contrived, even condescending and insulting, especially by older speakers. Formality and politeness in modern Swedish is not conveyed through specific grammatical forms, but primarily done through indirectness, manners of speaking or various other behaviors.

• I

• ni in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ni in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ni in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• in

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ni/ [n̪ɪ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: ni

From Proto-Austronesian *ni (“marker of possession”).

ni (plural nina, Baybayin spelling ᜈᜒ)

1. of; possessive particle, used only with personal names

   bisikleta ni Juan ― Juan's bicycle

2. objective marker for personal names, objective form of si; functional equivalent of ng

Borrowed from Spanish ni (“not even”), from Old Spanish nin, from Latin nec, apocopated form of neque.

ni (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜒ)

1. neither; nor

   Ni ako hindi nagsisigarilyo. ― Even I don't do cigarettes.

   Ni aso ni pusa. ― Neither dog nor cat.

ni (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜒ)

1. not even

   Synonym: ni ultimo

   Hindi ako humingi ni isang butil ng bigas. ― I didn't ask not even for a single grain of rice.

• -in, -in-, in-

• ney

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

ni (Tifinagh spelling ⵏⵉ)

1. (intransitive) to mount (on an animal)
2. (intransitive) to get into, to board, to embark (a vehicle)

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

• Verbal noun: tnaya (“mounting, boarding”)
• Causative: sni (“to make board”)
  • Verbal noun: aseniy
• tnaya (“transport”)
• amnay (“rider; cavalier, knight”)

• IPA^(key): [ni]
• Hyphenation: ni

From Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *ni. Cognates include Tuvaluan ni and Samoan ni.

ni

1. Plural indefinite article; any

ni

1. Changes a statement into a polite question; isn't it? doesn't it?

• R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎^[12], Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 250