-ni

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ni"

Central Nahuatl

Suffix

-ni

1. Marks a verb's habitual or customary present tense.

Classical Nahuatl

Suffix

-ni

1. Marks a verb's habitual or customary present tense.

Derived terms

Classical Nahuatl terms suffixed with -ni

Curripaco

Suffix

-ni

1. third person singular masculine patient marker

References

• Swintha Danielsen, Tania Granadillo, Agreement in two Arawak languages, in The Typology of Semantic Alignment (edited by Mark Donohue, Søren Wichmann) (2008, →ISBN), page 398

Finnish

Alternative forms

• -in (poetic)

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *-ni, from Proto-Uralic *-ne. Originally *-mi was the first-person singular possessive suffix used in the nominative singular, but -ni has replaced it, and it is now only found in dialects. Compare Erzya -м (-m).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /-ni/, [-ni]

Suffix

-ni

1. (possessive) First-person singular possessive suffix used with or without minun (the genitive of the personal pronoun minä), corresponds to the English possessive pronoun my

   (minun) kirjani ― my book(s)

   (minun) valaani ― my whale(s) (nominative singular/plural or genitive singular) / my oath (partitive or illative singular)

   1. (possessive) Appended to a genitive-requiring postposition that is after or without minun (the genitive of the personal pronoun minä), me

      (minun) edessäni ― in front of me

      (minun) takanani ― behind me

   2. (possessive) Used in a participle structure replacing an että clause, preceded by a verb expressing, e.g., telling, claiming, asserting, confirming, thinking, wish, desire, seeming, when the clauses have the same subject "I"; appended to the active present participle in genitive singular when the action is concurrent with the main clause

      Sanoin tekeväni läksyjäni. (similar to the Latin structure accusativus cum infinitivo, e.g. se dicit facere)

      I said that I was doing my homework.

   3. (possessive) Used in a participle structure replacing an että clause, preceded by a verb expressing, e.g., telling, claiming, asserting, confirming, thinking, wish, desire, seeming, when the clauses have the same subject "I"; appended to the active past participle in genitive singular when the said/alleged (etc.) action antedates the main clause.

      Väitin tehneeni läksyjäni.

      I claimed to have been doing my homework.

   4. (possessive) Used in a shortened sentence expressing concurrent actions when the clauses have the same subject "I", appended to the inessive of the active second infinitive.

      Tehdessäni läksyjäni (minä) kuulin laukauksen ulkoa.

      (While) doing my homework, I heard a shot from outside.

   5. (possessive) Used in a shortened sentence expressing subsequent actions when the clauses have the same subject "I", appended to the partitive of the passive past participle singular.

      Tehtyäni läksyni (minä) kuulin laukauksen ulkoa.

      (After) having done / After doing my homework, I heard a shot from outside.

   6. (possessive) Used in a final shortened sentence expressing "in order to do" when the clauses have the same subject "I", appended to the long first infinitive.

      Tehdäkseni läksyni hyvin (minä) menin hiljaiseen huoneeseen.

      (In order) to do my homework well, I went into a quiet room.

   7. (possessive) Used in some adverbs, when the clause has the subject "I"

      Olen hyvin pahoillani siitä.

      I am very sorry about it.

   8. (possessive) Always appended to a noun in the comitative case when the clause has the subject "I".

      Kävelin kirjoineni ovesta ulos.

      I walked with my books out the door.

Usage notes

• The possessive suffix -ni is compulsory in standard Finnish. In standard Finnish, when expressing ownership or before a postposition, the genitive form of the corresponding personal pronoun minä before the main word can be omitted. In colloquial Finnish, the suffix -ni is very rare and only the genitive form minun (or its colloquial or dialectal variants) is used before the main word.
• Appended to the (strong) vowel stem. The final -n of the genitive and illative singular and plural or the -t of the nominative plural are omitted, for example: talo (“house”) > taloon (“into a/the house”) > taloosi (“into your house”).
• The shortened sentences — except for the participle structures — pertain mainly to formal/standard Finnish, not to informal/colloquial Finnish. It is also to be noticed that the shortened clauses are never separated from the main clauses with a comma.

See also

• -si
• -nsa
• -mme
• -nne
• Appendix:Finnish possessive suffixes

Anagrams

• -in, in

Garo

Etymology

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

Suffix

-ni

1. (inflectional suffix) forms the genitive case

See also

• -na (“forms dative”)
• -ko (“forms accusative”)
• -chi (“forms instrumental”)
• -no (“forms locative”)

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ni]
• Rhymes: -ni

Suffix

-ni

1. (infinitive suffix) Forms the infinitive.

   ‎ad (“give”) + ‎-ni → ‎adni (“to give”)

2. Forms the concessive sense: used to devalue the predicate of the sentence when repeated and followed by a clause that contrasts with or contradicts it. See also -nak/-nek.

   Elindulni elindul, de rögtön le is áll. ― It does start, but it turns off right away.

3. (somewhat dated or literary, with the omission of lehet) one can…, it is possible to…

   Innen már látni a falut. ― One can already see the village from here.

Usage notes

• (infinitive suffix) Variants:

  -ni is added to most verbs

  ‎ad (“give”) + ‎-ni → ‎adni (“to give”)

  -ani is added to back-vowel verbs ending in -ít or in two consonants

  ‎tanít (“teach”) + ‎-ani → ‎tanítani (“to teach”)

  ‎akaszt (“hang”) + ‎-ani → ‎akasztani (“to hang”)

  ‎bont (“demolish”) + ‎-ani → ‎bontani (“to demolish”)

  -eni is added to front-vowel verbs ending in -ít or in two consonants

  ‎veszít (“lose”) + ‎-eni → ‎veszíteni (“to lose”)

  ‎ijeszt (“frighten”) + ‎-eni → ‎ijeszteni (“to frighten”)

  ‎csökkent (“reduce”) + ‎-eni → ‎csökkenteni (“to reduce”)

  -nni is added to verbs with variant stems

  ‎vesz (“buy”) + ‎-nni → ‎venni (“to buy”)

  ‎eszik (“eat”) + ‎-nni → ‎enni (“to eat”)

See also

• Category:Hungarian infinitives
• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

Icelandic

Suffix

-ni f (noun-forming suffix, genitive singular -ni, no plural)

1. nominalizes a verb or adjective

   ‎ákveða (“to decide”) + ‎-ni → ‎ákveðni (“decisiveness”)

   ‎samkvæmur (“consistent”) + ‎-ni → ‎samkvæmni (“consistency”)

Declension

Declension of -ni (sg-only feminine)

	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	-ni	-nin
accusative	-ni	-nina
dative	-ni	-ninni
genitive	-ni	-ninnar

Derived terms

Icelandic terms suffixed with -ni

Karelian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *-ni, from Proto-Uralic *-ni. Cognates include Finnish -ni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Suffix

-ni

1. Used to mark the possession of the first person; my, our

   jalka (“leg”) → jalkani (“my leg, our legs”)

Derived terms

Category Karelian terms suffixed with -ni not found

References

• P. M. Zaykov (1999) Грамматика Карельского языка (фонетика и морфология) [Grammar of the Karelian language (phonetics and morphology)], →ISBN, page 47

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic ـنِي (-nī).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɪ/

Suffix

-ni m or f

2. 1st-person singular pronominal suffix, attached to verbs: me

   Synonyms: -i, (only in possessive use) tiegħi

   ‎jinsa (“he forgets”) + ‎-ni → ‎jinsieni (“he forgets me”)

Related terms

• jien

Mecayapan Nahuatl

Etymology

Cognate with Classical Nahuatl -ni.

Verb

-ni

1. Forms agent nouns from verbs.

Derived terms

• paxa̱lohua̱ni
• tacajcaya̱huani
• tachtequini
• tacui̱cani
• tajcuilohua̱ni
• tamachtia̱ni
• tamictia̱ni
• tanamacani
• tapopo̱chhuia̱ni
• te̱cua̱ni
• tzoncalhuihuitani

 

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• -nai, -sni

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *snīs (“we”) (compare Welsh ni).

Suffix

-ni

1. 1st person plural emphatic suffix

Derived terms

Old Irish terms suffixed with -ni

Descendants

• Irish: -ne
• Scottish Gaelic: -ne

See also

Old Irish emphatic suffixes

Person	Emphatic suffixes
1 sg.	-se, -sa
2 sg.	-siu, -so, -su
3 sg. m.n.	-som, -sem, -sium, -sum, -sam
3 sg. f.	-si
1 pl.	-ni, -nai, -sni
2 pl.	-si
3 pl.	-som, -sem, -sium, -sum, -sam
Emphatic suffixes are added to nouns modified by a possessive determiner to emphasize the possessor; to verbs, predicate adjectives, and predicate nouns to emphasize the subject; and to inflected prepositions to emphasize the object.

Old Norse

Suffix

-ni

1. positive degree weak masculine nominative singular of -inn (adjective suffix)
2. weak masculine nominative singular of -inn (participle suffix)
3. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of -na (inchoative verb suffix)

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *-nь.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /niː/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ni/

Suffix

-ni

1. forms adjectives

Derived terms

Old Polish terms suffixed with -ni

Pipil

Suffix

-ni

2. (added to verbs) A person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun: -er

Further reading

• Campbell, L. (1985). The Pipil Language of El Salvador. Mouton De Gruyter. p.49

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish -ni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɲi/
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]
• Homophone: ni

Suffix

-ni

1. forms adjectives

   ‎żyto + ‎-ni → ‎żytni

2. forms masculine adjectives relating to place

   ‎wschód + ‎-ni → ‎wschodni

Declension

Declension of -ni (soft)

singular					plural
	masculine animate	masculine inanimate	feminine	neuter	virile (= masculine personal)	non-virile
nominative	-ni		-nia	-nie	-ni	-nie
genitive	-niego		-niej	-niego	-nich
dative	-niemu		-niej	-niemu	-nim
accusative	-niego	-ni	-nią	-nie	-nich	-nie
instrumental	-nim		-nią	-nim	-nimi
locative	-nim		-niej	-nim	-nich

Derived terms

Polish terms suffixed with -ni

Quechua

Suffix

-ni

1. First-person singular subject.

   rimay (“to speak”) → ñuqa rimani (“I speak”)

2. Epenthetic suffix inserted between consonant clusters.

   yachachiq (“teacher”) +‎ -y (“my”) → *yachachiqy → yachachiqniy (“my teacher”)

See also

• -y

Romani

Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit -इनी (-inī). Cognate with Hindi -नी (-nī).

Suffix

-ni f

1. A suffix used to make a female form, similar to -ette or -ess in English

   ‎grast (“horse”) + ‎-ni → ‎grasni (“mare”)

   ‎thagar (“king”) + ‎-ni → ‎thagarni (“queen”)

Suffix

-ni f

1. female equivalent of -no

   ‎siklǒvel (“study”) + ‎-ni → ‎siklǒvni (“female student”)

Derived terms

Romani terms suffixed with -ni

References

• Yūsuke Sumi (2018) “-ni”, in ニューエクスプレス　ロマ（ジプシー）語 [New Express Romani (Gypsy)] (in Japanese), Tokyo: Hakusuisha, →ISBN, page 130

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /niː/

Suffix

-nī (Cyrillic spelling -нӣ)

1. added to nouns to form a relational adjective

   Synonyms: -skī, -jī

   ‎kȕća + ‎-ni → ‎kȕćnī

Derived terms

Serbo-Croatian terms suffixed with -ni

Sicilian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ni]

Suffix

-ni

1. added to words that are stressed on the final syllable to move stress to the penultimate syllable

   accussì → accussini (“in this way”)

   accuḍḍì → accuḍḍini (“in that other way”)

   appassì → appassini (“in the meanwhile”)

   tu → tuni (“you”)

   cca → ccani (“here”)

   ḍḍà → ḍḍàni (“over there”)

   è → èni (“it is”)

   ḍḍà → ḍḍàni (“over there”)

   pirchì → pirchini (“why/because”)

Swahili

Other scripts
Ajami	ـنِ

Suffix

-ni

1. Second person plural:

   you, (archaic) ye

2. With nouns, indicates location: in/inside, at, on

   nyumbani ― at home, in the house

   mezani ― on the table

   • 18th century, Abdallah bin Ali bin Nasir, Al-Inkishafi‎^[1], translation from R. Allen (1946) “Inkishafi—a translation from the Swahili”, in African Studies, volume 5, number 4, →DOI, pages 243–249, stanza 6:

     نِيَضِهِرِشِ يَغُ مَقَالِ ، اَبَيُ مُيُوْنِ نِقُصُدِيِ

     Niyaḍihirishe yangu maqali, ambayo moyoni niquṣudiye.

     Let me set forth the plan which I have in my heart.

Usage notes

• (second-person plural) Used in conjunction with the direct imperative to form the plural. With native (Bantu)/nativized verbs in -a, vowel changes to -e:

  Kisomeni (Read it!) (from soma)

  Jibuni (Answer!) (from jibu)

• (second-person plural) Used in conjunction with the class 1 (personal) object affix -wa- to disambiguate the second-person plural from the third person plural; verbs in -a change this to -e before the affix:

  Niliwasomeeni (I read to you) vs. Niliwasomea (I read to them)

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *-ьnъ.

Suffix

-ni

1. Forms adjectives

Derived terms

Category Upper Sorbian terms suffixed with -ni not found

Warlpiri

Suffix

-ni

1. non-past marker, applied to verbs of class 5 to indicate non-past tense

Welsh

Etymology

Cognate with Cornish -ni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Suffix

-ni m

1. forming abstract nouns, -ness, -ment

   ‎glas (“blue, green”) + ‎-ni → ‎glesni (“blueness, chlorosis”)

   ‎llwyd (“grey”) + ‎-ni → ‎llwydni (“greyness, mould”)

   ‎moel (“bald”) + ‎-ni → ‎moelni (“baldness”)

   ‎rhwd (“rust”) + ‎-ni → ‎rhydni (“rustiness, rubigo”)

Usage notes

-ni causes i-affection of internal vowels.

Derived terms

Welsh terms suffixed with -ni

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “-ni”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Zaghawa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/ (+ATR)
• IPA^(key): /nɪ/ (-ATR)

Suffix

-ni

1. family (used in compounds)

References

• Beria-English English-Beria Dictionary [provisional] ADESK, Iriba, Kobe Department, Chad

Zulu

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ní/

Pronoun

-ni

1. what

   Udlani? ― What are you eating?

   Yini lokhu? ― What is this?

Usage notes

Unlike other pronouns, -ni always appears attached to another word. However, it does have a copulative form yini.

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Suffix

-ni

1. Forms the plural of the imperative of verbs.

References

• C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “-ni”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “-ni”