ने

See also: ऩ, न, नृ, नै, and ন

Hindi

Etymology

Borrowed from Haryanvi नै (nai) (or a Rajasthani language), from older Western Indo-Aryan नै (nai), कनै (kanai), कन्हइ (kanhai), कन्हि (kanhi), all ultimately from Apabhramsa कण्णही (kaṇṇahī), from Sanskrit कर्णे (karṇe), locative singular of कर्ण (karṇa, “ear”). The sense as a locative shifted to ablative-dative, and then to agentive. Cognate with Gujarati ને (ne), Marwari नै (nai) / कनै (kanai), Punjabi ਨੂੰ (nū̃), and Marathi ने (ne). Doublet of कने (kane, “near, chez”, locative particle), now obselete.

Further etymology

The dropping of the initial ka- syllable in नै (nai) < कनै (kanai) has been argued to be part of a general process by which initial syllables with k- could be deleted in Western Indo-Aryan. Compare Old Rajasthani सिउ (siu) < किसिउ (kisiu, “what?”) and Gujarati શું (śũ) with Hindi कैसा (kaisā). The particle in Old Rajasthani, which had primarily ablative/dative meaning, is attested with agentive usage. Such range in function between agentive/ergative and dative of ne/nai is the case for Gujarati, Haryanvi, and Rajasthani, but not in Hindi.

This etymology is widely accepted as it is phonologically sound and accounts for the late occurrence of ने (ne) in Hindi (and its lack in Old Hindi). For the pattern of postpositions being derived from the locative forms of terms for body parts, compare को (ko, dative postp.) < Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣa, “armpit”). Compare Vedic Sanskrit अपिकर्णम् (apikarṇam) / अपिकर्णे (apikarṇe, “behind the ear > back > from behind”).

Unlikely to be from Sanskrit -एन (-ena, instrumental case marker). This case suffix serves the same function as Hindi ने (ne) when used with past participles in Sanskrit. However the splitting of a case marker into a postposition does not occur elsewhere in Indo-Aryan and it is phonologically implausible since Prakrit has -𑀏𑀁 (-eṃ).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hindi) IPA^(key): /neː/

Postposition

ने • (ne) (Urdu spelling نے)

1. marker of the ergative case with perfective-aspect transitive verbs

   लड़के ने किताब ख़रीदी। ― laṛke ne kitāb xarīdī. ― The boy bought a book.

   लड़कों ने किताबें ख़रीदीं। ― laṛkõ ne kitābẽ xarīdī̃. ― The boys bought books.

Usage notes

Some Eastern Hindi dialects do not mark the ergative case at all.

Derived terms

• आपने (āpne)
• इन्होंने (inhõne)
• इसने (isne)
• उन्होंने (unhõne)
• उसने (usne)
• किसने (kisne)
• जिसने (jisne)
• तुमने (tumne)
• तूने (tūne)
• मैंने (ma͠ine)
• हमने (hamne)

Newar

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kV-ni-s. Cognate with Dzongkha and Tibetan གཉིས (gnyis) (Dzongkha /njiː˥/, Lhasa /n̠ʲiː˥˥/, Burmese နှစ် (hnac) (/n̥ɪʔ/) and Chinese 二 (Northern Min /ni⁵⁵/).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ne]

Numeral

ने • (ne)

1. two

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• ne (Latin script)
• 𑀦𑁂 (Brahmi script)
• নে (Bengali script)
• නෙ (Sinhalese script)
• နေ or ၼေ (Burmese script)
• เน (Thai script)
• ᨶᩮ (Tai Tham script)
• ເນ (Lao script)
• នេ (Khmer script)
• 𑄚𑄬 (Chakma script)

Adjective

ने

1. Devanagari script form of ne, which is accusative plural masculine of न (na, “that”)

Pronoun

ने

1. Devanagari script form of ne, which is accusative plural of न (na, “him, it, that”)