Mani

The adverb ⟨na⟩

Statements and questions are negated with the adverb na, "not", right after the main verb.

• Kai xu na.
  [foot] [hot] [not]
  "The food is not hot."

• Si yon na.
  [you] [go] [not]
  "You won't/didn't go."

• Pen ha na taum.
  [child] [eat] [not] [peach]
  "The child won't/didn't eat a peach."

The adverb xa na means "not yet".

• Om yen pin xa na.
  [they] [come] [arrive] [yet] [not]
  "They haven't arrived yet."

• Pen ha xa na taum.
  [child] [eat] [yet] [not] [peach]
  "The child hasn't eaten the peach yet."

• Mi nat xa na xem.
  [I] [distribute] [yet] [not] [paper]
  "I haven't distributed the flyers yet."

The adverb li na means "never".

• Si nung li na mi.
  [you] [fail] [ever] [not] [I]
  "You never fail me."

• Bai nam mi xil li na ki.
  [sibling] [boy] [I] [wash] [ever] [not] [tool]
  "My brother never washes the dishes."

The pronoun ⟨yan⟩

In order to say such words such as "nobody", "nothing", "nowhere", or "never", the pronoun yan "any" is used with the negative adverb na.

These are the pronouns that use yan. The use of these is optional; yan alone can be substituted for any of them.

• • ko yan — anything, nothing

  • in yan — anyone, no one

  • ka yan — anywhere, no where

  • wan yan — ever, never

Here are some examples of negation with yan:

• In yan xan na ya.
  [person] [any] [enjoy] [not] [that]
  "Nobody likes that."

• Si ca na yan.
  [you] [know] [not] [anything]
  "You don't know anything."

• Mi yung pin na o ta yan.
  [I] [look for] [find] [not] [he/she] [at] [anywhere]
  "I didn't find him/her anywhere."

• Yan lu cam na.
  [anything] [aspect] [change] [not]
  "Nothing will change."

The preverb ⟨ne⟩

Ne indicates that an action was not completed. It means "have not done" or "never did".

• Si ne so yan.
  [you] [lack] [do] [anything]
  "You haven't done anything." "You never did anything."

• O ne iu daum.
  [he/she] [lack] [answer for] [blame]
  "He/she hasn't apologized." "He/she never apologized."

• Mim ne du on um.
  [we] [lack] [long] [see] [each other]
  "We haven't seen each other for a while."

Negation with ⟨a⟩

Another way to negate a sentence is to precede with with A na, "It is not true that …".

Consider the following sentences:

• Tixol bo na.
  "The book isn't good."
  "It is true that the book is not good."

• A na tixol bo.
  [be] [not] [book] [good]
  "The book is not good."
  "It is not true that the book is good."

This is not the normal way to negate a sentence, but it is used for sentences such as the following:

• A na tixol yu pang tem bo, xe a yu ba bun bo.
  [be] [not] [book] [because of] [pattern] [story] [good], [but rather] [be] [because of] [speech] [level] [good]
  "The book isn't good because of the plot, it's good because of the prose."

It would be inappropriate to translate this sentence simply with na, because that would mean that the book is not good.

• Tixol yu pang tem bo na.
  "The book is not good (e.g. it is bad) because of the plot."

Preverb negation

The placement of the negative adverb na is important when it comes to preverbs.

When na comes right after the preverb, it negates the preverb. For example:

• Si de na so wa.
  [you] [must] [not] [do] [this]
  "You don't have to do this."

• Mi po na kan wa.
  [I] [can] [not] [watch] [this]
  "I can't watch this."

• O ca na so ba kom.
  [he/she] [know] [not] [do] [language] [common]
  "He/she can't speak Ba kom."

When na comes right after the main verb, it negates the main verb.

• Si de so na wa.
  [you] [must] [do] [not] [this]
  "You mustn't do this." "You shouldn't do this."

• Mi pi pim ho na.
  [I] [manage] [smile] [make a sound] [not]
  "I managed not to laugh."

The aspectual preverbs la, lo, and lu cannot be negated.

Verbs that have to do with thoughts and feelings cannot be negated.

• Mi kim wa pin lu na.
  [I] [believe] [this] [manage to] [happen] [not]
  "I don't think this is going to work."
  To say *kim na would be incorrect here.