ná

See also: Appendix:Variations of "na"

Asturian

Adverb

ná

1. alternative form of nada

Hokkien

For pronunciation and definitions of ná – see 哪 (“which; what; any; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 哪).

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse ná, from Proto-Germanic *nēhwāną, related to (or derived from) Proto-Germanic *nēhwaz (“near”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nauː/
• Rhymes: -auː

Verb

ná

1. to reach (a place) [with dative]
2. to get, catch, apprehend (a physical object) [with dative]
3. to reach, attain (a goal) [with dative]

   Ég mun ná heimsyfirráðum!

   I will attain world domination!

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• ná í
• ná sér
• ná sér í

Anagrams

• án

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n̪ˠɑː/, /n̪ˠa(ː)/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish ná (“don't”, prohibitive particle).

Particle

ná

1. don’t (particle used to introduce a negative imperative; triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel)

   Ná déan sin.

   Don’t do that.

   Ná habair é.

   Don’t mention it.

2. may...not (particle used with raibh, the present subjunctive of bí, to introduce a negative wish)

   Dealbh ná raibh tú.

   May you never be destitute.

3. (Munster) alternative form of nach (“not”) (in questions; triggers h-prothesis; used with the dependent form of an irregular verb if there is one)

   Ná fuil ocras ort?

   Are you not hungry?

   Chonac í, ná facas?

   I saw her, didn’t I?

Conjunction

ná (triggers h-prothesis, used with the dependent form of an irregular verb if there is one)

1. (Munster) alternative form of nach (“that...not”)

   Dúirt sé ná raibh carr aige.

   He said that he didn’t have a car.

Etymology 2

From Old Irish ná (“nor”)

Conjunction

ná

1. nor

   Níl deartháir ná deirfiúr agam.

   I have neither brother nor sister.

2. used between two identical or similar words to intensify a negative

   Ní fhaca sí solas ná solas.

   She saw no light whatsoever.

   (literally, “She didn’t see light or light).”)

Etymology 3

From Old Irish indás (“than (it) is”).

Alternative forms

• ioná (archaic)
• 'ná (superseded)

Conjunction

ná (triggers h-prothesis)

1. than

   Is airde Máire ná Peadar.

   Mary is taller than Peter.

2. but (used rhetorically in direct and indirect questions)

   Cé a bhí ina shuí ann ná m’athair féin?

   Who was sitting there but my own father?

3. used to connect a predicate noun to its subject in a cleft sentence introduced by a copular form

   Is é a dúirt sé ná gur dhíol sé a ríomhaire lena chara.

   What he said was that he sold his computer to his friend.

Quotations

• 1907, Peadar Ua Laoghaire, Séadna, page 6:

  Bhí fear ann fad ó agus isé ainim a bhí air ’ná Séadna.

  Once upon a time there was a man and the name that he had was Séadna.

Derived terms

• ná go, ná gur (“but that”)

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “ná”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 178; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “ná”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “ná”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “ná”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026

Mandarin

Alternative forms

• na — nonstandard

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Romanization

ná (na², Zhuyin ㄋㄚˊ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嗱
2. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 拏 / 拿
3. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 拿
4. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 挏
5. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 訣 / 诀
6. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 誽 / 𰵵
7. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 鎿 / 镎
8. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 镎

Navajo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɑ́/

Postposition

ná

1. for you, for your sake
2. in your favor

   ná yáʼátʼééh ― it is good for you

   ná áshłééh ― I’m making it for you

Inflection

Forms of ná

	singular	duoplural
1st person	shá	nihá
2nd person	ná	nihá
3rd person	bá
4th person (3o)	yá
4th person (3a)	há
4th person (3i)	á	—
reflexive	ádá	—
reciprocal	—	ahá

Northern Sami

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈnaː/

Adverb

ná

1. so, thus, in this way

Further reading

• Eino Koponen, Klaas Ruppel, Kirsti Aapala, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[1], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈn̪aː/

Etymology 1

Uncertain. According to Matasović originally short /na/, from Proto-Celtic *ne, from Proto-Indo-European *né (“not”). According to Dunkel from Proto-Celtic *nā, from Proto-Indo-European *nó-h₁, from *né + adverbial suffix *-h₁. In Old Irish the expected outcome would be *nú in a final syllable. The variant with á would adopted from originally disyllabic forms like nád (relative) and nách (before infixed pronoun).

Particle

ná (triggers /h/-prothesis)

1. don’t, let…not (particle used to introduce a negative imperative)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ná.

Alternative forms

• na
• nách, nach (before an infixed pronoun)

Descendants

• Middle Irish: ná
  • Irish: ná

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 ná, na”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909], D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, §§ 862, 868, pages 539, 542; reprinted 2017

Etymology 2

Maybe from Proto-Celtic *nāwe (“or not”), from Proto-Indo-European *nó-h₁ (“not”) + *-we (“or”). Compare nó (“or”).

Conjunction

ná (triggers /h/-prothesis)

1. (chiefly in the negative) or, nor

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ná.

Alternative forms

• na

Descendants

• Middle Irish: ná
  • Irish: ná

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “4 ná”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909], D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, § 865, page 540; reprinted 2017

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *nēhwāną, related to (or derived from) Proto-Germanic *nēhwaz (“near”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).

Verb

ná (singular past indicative náði, plural past indicative náðu, past participle nát)

1. to get hold of, reach, overtake [with dative]
2. to get, obtain
3. (with infinitive) to be able to, to be allowed to

Conjugation

Conjugation of ná — active (weak class 3)

infinitive	ná
present participle	nándi, náandi
past participle	náðr
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	nái	náða		ná	næða
2nd person singular	náir	náðir		náir	næðir
3rd person singular	náir	náði		nái	næði
1st person plural	nám	náðum		náim	næðim
2nd person plural	náið	náðuð		náið	næðið
3rd person plural	ná	náðu		nái	næði
imperative	present
2nd person singular	ná
1st person plural	nám
2nd person plural	náið

Conjugation of ná — mediopassive (weak class 3)

infinitive	násk
present participle	nándisk, náandisk
past participle	názk
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	námk	náðumk		námk	næðumk
2nd person singular	náisk	náðisk		náisk	næðisk
3rd person singular	náisk	náðisk		náisk	næðisk
1st person plural	námsk	náðumsk		náimsk	næðimsk
2nd person plural	náizk	náðuzk		náizk	næðizk
3rd person plural	násk	náðusk		náisk	næðisk
imperative	present
2nd person singular	násk
1st person plural	námsk
2nd person plural	náizk

Related terms

• gnógr
• nær

Descendants

• Icelandic: ná
• Norwegian:
  • Norwegian Bokmål: nå
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: nå
• Swedish: nå
• Danish: nå

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “ná”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 309; also available at the Internet Archive

Portuguese

Interjection

ná

1. eye dialect spelling of não

Further reading

• “ná”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “ná”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Skou

Particle

ná

1. polar interrogative particle

   Móe ing a mè mangmang me pi ná?

   Do you want to eat fish?

References

• Donohue, Mark. A Grammar of the Skou Language of New Guinea (2004).

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈna/ [ˈna]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: ná

Pronoun

ná

1. (informal) apocopic form of nada

   no pasa ná ― nothing happens

Tày

Pronunciation

• (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key): [naː˧˥]
• (Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key): [naː˦]

Etymology 1

Adverb

ná

1. not (negates meaning of verb)

   ná chin ― not eat

   ná chắc ― not know

   slon lụ ná ― study or not

Etymology 2

Adjective

ná

1. brassy; obstinate

   ná dú rườn hâu ― to stay at their house

Verb

ná

1. to be blocked

   Slủng ná đạn.

   The gun was clogged.

References

• Hoàng Văn Ma; Lục Văn Pảo; Hoàng Chí (2006), Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội
• Lương Bèn (2011), Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary]‎^[2][3] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên
• Dương Nhật Thanh; Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003), Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎^[4] (in Tày and Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội [Social Sciences Publishing House]

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *s-naːʔ (“crossbow”), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *snaʔ (“crossbow”). Cognate with Thavung ซะน่า, Khmer ស្នា (snaa), Koho söna. Doublet of nỏ.

Pain (2020) tentatively considered this to be a Chinese loan, from 弩 (OC *C.nˤaʔ) (B-S) (SV: nỗ), into Austroasiatic and Tai languages, likely through proto-Vietic.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [naː˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [naː˨˩˦]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [naː˦˥]

Noun

(classifier cái, chiếc) ná • (弩, 𫸶, 梛, 󲈦, 那)

1. (dialectal) synonym of nỏ (“crossbow”)
2. slingshot

Anagrams

• án