neki

See also: nekî, néki, and neki-

Hungarian

Alternative forms

• néki (dialectal)

Etymology

Lexicalization of the otherwise unattested Proto-Hungarian *nek (“to/across/toward something”) +‎ -i (third-person possessive suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈnɛki]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ne‧ki
• Rhymes: -ki

Pronoun

neki

1. to/for him/her

   Synonyms: számára, részére, (only in certain senses) javára

   Ezt a könyvet neki vettem. ― I bought this book for her.

   Semmit se mondott neki. ― She did not say anything to him.

   Virágot hozott neki. ― He brought her flowers.

   (Neki) nincs testvére. ― S/he doesn’t have any siblings. (literally, “(For him/her) there is no his/her-sibling.”)

Usage notes

This term may also be part of the split form of a verb prefixed with neki-, occurring when the main verb does not follow the prefix directly. It can be interpreted only with the related verb form, irrespective of its position in the sentence, e.g. meg tudták volna nézni (“they could have seen it”, from megnéz). For verbs with this prefix, see neki-; for an overview, Appendix:Hungarian verbal prefixes.

Declension

Inflection of neki

	singular	plural
1st	nekem/énnekem	nekünk/minekünk
2nd	neked/teneked	nektek/tinektek
3rd	neki/őneki	nekik/őnekik

See also

• -nak / -nek
• Appendix:Hungarian pronouns

Hungarian pronominal adverbs from case suffixes (see also postpositions)

case	suffix	who?	what?	this	that	he/she (it)1	verbal prefix	category
nominative	–	ki	mi	ez	az	ő* / -∅ az / -∅	–	–
accusative	-t / -ot / -at / -et / -öt	kit	mit	ezt	azt	őt* / -∅ azt / -∅	–	c1 c2
dative	-nak / -nek	kinek	minek	ennek	annak	neki	neki-	category
instrumental	-val / -vel	kivel	mivel	ezzel/ evvel	azzal/ avval	vele		category
causal-final	-ért	kiért	miért	ezért	azért	érte	–	category
translative	-vá / -vé	kivé	mivé	ezzé	azzá	–	–	category
terminative	-ig	–	meddig	eddig	addig	–	–	category
essive-formal	-ként	(kiként)	(miként)	ekként	akként	–	–	category
essive-modal	-ul / -ül	–	–	–	–	–	–	category
inessive	-ban / -ben	kiben	miben	ebben	abban	benne	–	category
superessive	-n/-on/-en/-ön	kin	min	ezen	azon	rajta	(rajta-)	category
adessive	-nál / -nél	kinél	minél	ennél	annál	nála	–	category
illative	-ba / -be	kibe	mibe	ebbe	abba	bele	bele-	category
sublative	-ra / -re	kire	mire	erre	arra	rá	rá-	category
allative	-hoz/-hez/-höz	kihez	mihez	ehhez	ahhoz	hozzá	hozzá-	category
elative	-ból / -ből	kiből	miből	ebből	abból	belőle	–	category
delative	-ról / -ről	kiről	miről	erről	arról	róla	–	category
ablative	-tól / -től	kitől	mitől	ettől	attól	tőle	–	category

¹Ő and őt refer to human beings; the forms below them might be construed likewise.
Forms in parentheses are uncommon. All Hungarian pronouns / edit this template

Further reading

• neki in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Pipil

Etymology

From Proto-Nahuan *nəki. Compare Classical Nahuatl nequi (“to want”).

Pronunciation

• (Izalco) IPA^(key): /ˈneki/
• (Witzapan) IPA^(key): /ˈneɣi/

Verb

-neki

1. (transitive) to want

   Inte tiknekit ma puliwi ne Nawat, yajika timumachtiat. ― We don't want Nawat to disappear, that's why we're learning (it).

2. (transitive) to love

   Nimetzneki. ― I love you.

3. (reflexive) to need, to be necessary

   Tejemet inte timunekit taja, tey né titechchiwilijtuk. ― We don't need you after what you did to us.

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• nȅkojī

Etymology

From ne- + Proto-Slavic *kъjь.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nêkiː/
• Hyphenation: ne‧ki
• Rhymes: -jiː

Pronoun

nȅkī (Cyrillic spelling не̏кӣ)

1. (generally with countable nouns) some

   neki ljudi čekaju ― some people are waiting

   u neku ruku ― in some way

   neko vr(ij)eme ― for some time

   Vidio sam nekog lika pred tvojom kućom. ― I saw some bloke in front of your house.

2. (in the plural, without a noun, substantively) some (people), people

   neki to vole žestoko ― some like it hard

   neki su mi rekli da je dosadan ― some people told me that he's boring

3. (with genitive) some, approximately, around

   nekih sat vremena sam čitao knjigu ― I was reading the book for around an hour

   nekih pola sata ― around half an hour

   nekih 30 ljudi ― about 30 people

4. some, certain

   do neke m(j)ere ― to a certain extent

Declension

Declension of neki

singular		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		nȅkī	nȅkā	nȅkō
genitive		nekog(a)	neke	nekog(a)
dative		nekom(u/e)	nekoj	nekom(u/e)
accusative	inanimate animate	neki nekog(a)	neku	neko
vocative		—	—	—
locative		nekom(u/e)	nekoj	nekom(u/e)
instrumental		nekim(e)	nekom	nekim(e)
plural		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative		neki	neke	neka
genitive		nekih	nekih	nekih
dative		nekim	nekim	nekim
accusative		neke	neke	neka
vocative		—	—	—
locative		nekim	nekim	nekim
instrumental		nekim	nekim	nekim

Synonyms

• (some): nešto (with uncountable nouns)

References

• “neki”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Sranan Tongo

Picture dictionary

neki

dede-ede

edetonton

ai

noso

mofo

kakumbe

yesi

neki

mofobuba

Click on labels in the image

skin

skin

Etymology

From English neck or Dutch nek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ne.ci/

Noun

neki

1. neck
2. throat

   Synonym: inineki

Derived terms

• bakaneki (“nape”)
• dreineki (“thirst”)
• neki-olo (“throat”)
• ondroneki (“front of the neck”)
• soroneki (“sore throat”)

Descendants

• Aukan: neki

References

Wilner, John, editor (2003-2007), “neki”, in Languages of Suriname, 5th edition, SIL International, Sranan-English Dictionary