nichts

See also: Nichts

German

Etymology

From Middle High German niht. Cognate with Hunsrik nichs.

Alternative forms

• nix (a very common colloquial pronunciation; frequently seen in informal writing)
• nischt (dialectal, widely restricted to eastern Germany)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɪçts/, /nixts/

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

nichts n (indefinite pronoun)

1. nothing

   Ich weiß, dass ich nichts weiß.

   I know that I know nothing.

Declension

Invariable. A following adjective is capitalized and declined as a neuter singular in the strong pattern. Thus nichts Neues (“nothing new”) in the nominative and accusative cases; nichts Neuem in the dative case.

A genitive form does not exist. It is paraphrased by means of the preposition von (“of”). After the prepositions statt, trotz, während, and wegen, the dative case is used instead: wegen nichts Wichtigem – “because of nothing important” (i.e. because of something unimportant).

Further reading

• “nichts” in Duden online

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Scots

Noun

nichts

1. plural of nicht