nesam

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• (Standard Bosnian, Standard Croatian, Standard Serbian) nísam
• (historical, regional, Standard Montenegrin) nijésam

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ne + *esmь, first-person singular present tense form of *byti. This formation later created *ne jesьmь in the South Slavic vernaculars, which merged to become něsьmь (attested in 1406). The term něsьmь eventually formed něsamь. Because of the yat reflex, něsamь became rendered as nesam in Ekavian speeches.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /něːsam/
• Hyphenation: ne‧sam

Verb

nésam

1. (regional, chiefly Serbia) negative first-person singular present of biti

References

• Pero Budmani, editor (1892–1897), “jesam”, in Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika‎^[1] (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 4, Zagreb: JAZU, page 606