# Anything is possible



## Awwal12

Greetings! Does this idiom exist in your language, and how does it sound? I do not need simple translations, of course. Any word-by-word analysis would be welcome, as well as transcription for languages that don't use Roman alphabet.

The problem is that in Russian this idiom consists of three negations (!):
нет ничего невозможного (n*e*t nicheg*o* nevozm*o*zhnogo)

нет - (there is) no
ничего - nothing {in genitive}
невозможного - impossible {in genitive}

Thank you very much!


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## Rallino

In Turkish it's simpler than Russian =)

Her şey mümkün. (lit. every thing possible.)


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## Awwal12

> In Turkish it's simpler than Russian =)
> 
> Her şey mümkün. (lit. every thing possible.)


Thanks!

By the way, I never thought that Arabic loanwords also exist in the most basic Turkish vocabulary... It seems I was mistaken.


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## Rallino

Awwal12 said:


> Thanks!
> 
> By the way, I never thought that Arabic loanwords also exist in the very basic Turkish vocabulary... It seems I was mistaken.



Oh they're everywhere


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## sakvaka

In *Finnish*, _kaikki on mahdollista_. 

*Edit.*
_kaikki_ -- all, everything (nominative sing.)
_on_ -- is (singular 3rd person indicative present)
_mahdollista_ -- possible (partitive sing.)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Όλα είναι πιθανά»
'ola 'ine piθa'na
«Όλα»-->Neuter Plural Nominative of adj. «Όλο» ('olo, _n._): All, anything
«Είναι»-->3rd person Simple Present of verb "to be": Is
«Πιθανά»-->Neuter Plural Nominative of adj. «Πιθανό» (piθa'no, _n._): Possible


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## galaxy man

Hungarian: both affirmative and negative versions exist, triple negative is most frequently used:

Semmi nem lehetetlen (nothing not impossible);
Semmi sem lehetetlen (same as above, where "sem" = shortened "is nem" = "also not");
Minden lehetséges (everything possible);


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## Csaba

Can I write Romanian here even though it has a forum of its own?

Nimic nu e imposibil (nothing isn't impossible triple neg)
or
Totul e posibil. (all is possible)
or most likely
Orice e posibil. (anything is possible)


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## Awwal12

> Hungarian: both affirmative and negative versions exist, triple negative is most frequently used:
> 
> Semmi nem lehetetlen (nothing not impossible);
> Semmi sem lehetetlen (same as above, where "sem" = shortened "is nem" = "also not");
> Minden lehetséges (everything possible);


Wonderful, Russian isn't alone already. 



> Can I write Romanian here even though it has a forum of its own?


Well, since this forum is called "All languages", I suppose you can! 

to *Csaba*, *galaxy man*:
May I ask you, are there some nuances in these expressions?

For instance, in Russian one can say "всё возможно / всё может быть" (vsy*o* vozm*o*zhno / vsy*o* m*o*zhet b*y*t') as well:
всё - all, everything (neuter);
возможно - possible (short, predicate form of neuter gender);
может - may, can (3rd person singular form)
быть - to be

However, it would most likely have different meaning, something like the next:
- Who did that?
- I do not know.
- Could it happen that Michael did it?
- Everything is possible.

But the construction with three negations, strange as it may seem, has a quite positive meaning and may be (and often is) used as a proverb:
- I'm afraid I won't pass that exam, it is so difficult.
- Then study harder, anything is possible (for diligent students).


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## Hakro

Awwal12 said:


> нет - (there is) no
> ничего - nothing {in genitive}
> невозможного - impossible {in genitive}


Literally in Finnish: _Mikään ei ole mahdotonta_ (nothing is impossible).

I have also used a similar expression both in Finnish and in English but I can't tell where the origin is:

_Ihmeitä teemme hetkessä, mahdoton vie vähän pitemmän aikaa_ (We make miracles in a minute, the impossible takes a little longer)

I have used this phrase as a slogan of my one-man-company (translations and newspaper articles). Sometimes my customers have said that my slogan is not a joke.


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## Rallino

Well, now that you mentioned we have 3 negatives in Turkish too 

Hiçbir şey imkansız değildir. _(Nothing isn't impossible)_


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## Awwal12

to *Hakro*:


> Literally in Finnish: Mikään ei ole mahdotonta (nothing is impossible).


Excellent, thanks! It seems that syntactically double negations (like Slavic/Hungarian "there is no nothing" = English "there is no anything") are impossible in Finnish, but stylistically you still prefer to use "nothing is impossible" instead of "anything is possible", don't you?

to *Rallino*:


> Well, now that you mentioned we have 3 negatives in Turkish too
> Hiçbir şey imkansız değildir. (Nothing isn't impossible)


Could you also explain the difference in use with "Her şey mümkün", please?


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## Csaba

Hi Awwal,

I wouldn't say there is some specific nuance in Romanian, all 3 have slight implications which are identical to the ones in English.


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## Hakro

Awwal12 said:


> Excellent, thanks! It seems that syntactically double negations (like Slavic/Hungarian "there is no nothing" = English "there is no anything") are impossible in Finnish, but stylistically you still prefer to use "nothing is impossible" instead of "anything is possible", don't you?


I'd say it depends on the context. We use both of these in Finnish. For example:

If somebody says, "It's impossible to do this", I'd answer, "Nothing is impossible".

If somebody says, "I don't know if I can do this", I'd answer, "Anything is possible".


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## apmoy70

Thank you for reminding me that  the triple negation works in Greek too:
«Τίποτα δεν είναι απίθανο»
'Tipota ðen 'ine a'piθano
Nothing is not impossible


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## galaxy man

Awwal12 said:


> are there some nuances in these expressions?



For practical purposes they seem quite interchangeable to me, but, exactly as in your examples, "nothing is impossible" may have some instructive, proverbial feel, while "everything is possible" is simply contemplative in Hungarian. Although I may read a little too much into it


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: Всичко е възможно. = All/everything is possible.


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## Awwal12

> Bulgarian: Всичко е възможно. = All/everything is possible.


Thank you, *Orlin*! But what about variants with negations?


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## Orlin

awwal12 said:


> thank you, *orlin*! But what about variants with negations?


 
Такие варианты есть, но я не думаю, что они так популярны: например, употребляется "Нищо не е невъзможно", но по-моему значительно реже - 1 850 000 против 70 500 результатов по Google.
Пришло мне в голову выражение "Няма невъзможни неща" (букв. "Нет невозможных вещей"), которое практически синонимично предходным и употребляется часто.


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## Rallino

Awwal12 said:


> to *Rallino*:
> 
> Could you also explain the difference in use with "Her şey mümkün", please?



Her şey mümkün = Everything is possible
Hiçbir şey imkansız değildir = Nothing is impossible


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## bibax

Czech:

Nic není nemožné (3 negations). = Nothing is impossible.


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## enoo

*French*:
- _Tout est possible_. (All/Everything is possible)
or
- _Rien n'est impossible_. (Nothing is impossible, less common, used to answer sentences like "It's impossible that...") 
That last one almost looks like 3 negations, because of the "n' " (in general, n'/ne is a negation mark), but sentences with "rien" as the subject always have that n'/ne before the verb)


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## phosphore

Serbian:

Ništa nije nemoguće=Nothing is impossible (triple negation as in French)

or

Sve je moguće=Everything is possible


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## jana.bo99

Anything is possible


Croatian:

Sve je moguće

Slovenian:

Vse je mogoče


p. s. We say it to the people they believe only in themselves; they don't believe in natural catastrophe or some sudden accident.


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## nooij

In Dutch we say _"Alles is mogelijk."_ That literally means _"Everything is possible."_


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## nimak

Macedonian:

*Сè е можно.* (S*è* e m*o*žno.) lit. _"All/everything is possible."_

A variant with negations is possible, but it is rarely used:
*Ништо не е неможно.* (N*i*što n*e* e n*e*možno.) lit. _"Nothing is not impossible."_

Another variant is possible too:
*Нема неможно.* (N*e*ma n*e*možno.) lit. _"There-is-no impossible."_


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## Olaszinhok

Italian:
*Tutto è possibile *- Everything is possible
*Nulla/niente è impossibile *- Nothing is impossible


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## Lychnidos

nimak said:


> Macedonian:
> 
> *Сè е можно.* (S*è* e m*o*žno.) lit. _"All/everything is possible."_
> 
> A variant with negations is possible, but it is rarely used:
> *Ништо не е неможно.* (N*i*što n*e* e n*e*možno.) lit. _"Nothing is not impossible."_
> 
> Another variant is possible too:
> *Нема неможно.* (N*e*ma n*e*možno.) lit. _"There-is-no impossible."_



I have never in my life heard the word *неможно *spoken. The common word for impossible in expressions like this is *невозможно*.


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## nimak

Lychnidos said:


> I have never in my life heard the word *неможно *spoken. The common word for impossible in expressions like this is *невозможно*.


It all depends on where you live. That "common" word "_невозможно_", along with "_возможно_", do not belong to the Macedonian standard language. The standard Macedonian words are можно '_possible_' and неможно '_impossible_'.



> Сепак, *неможно* беше човек да остане мирен гледајќи го ѕвонарот. Кутриот човек!
> _„Големата вода“ од Живко Чинго (1984)_​
> Тие оделе дотаму што сметале дека, ако од политички причини не можеле да се отстранат членовите на ЦК, барем требало да се направи *неможен* нивниот опстанок во Солун.
> _„Солунските атентати 1903“ од Крсте Битоски (2003)_​
> 
> Се плашам од *неможноста* да ги различам, ако и самиот личам на нив.
> _„Захариј и други раскази“ од Михаил Ренџов (2004)_​
> Read more.


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## Olaszinhok

nimak said:


> The standard Macedonian words are можно '_possible_' and неможно '_impossible_'


Those words remind me of Russian...


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## Awwal12

Olaszinhok said:


> Those words remind me of Russian...


Немо́жно is outdated in Russian (cf. modern Russian нельзя́).
Возмо́жно and невозмо́жно in Russian likely come from Church Slavonic,  taking воз- into account (in Macedonian they must be inherited).


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## nimak

Awwal12 said:


> Немо́жно is outdated in Russian (cf. modern Russian нельзя́).
> Возмо́жно and невозмо́жно in Russian likely come from Church Slavonic,  taking воз- into account (in Macedonian they must be inherited).


They (вóзможно, невóзможно) do exist in Macedonian, but they are not considered to be the standard words. The standard words are мóжно, нéможно. You can freely say "_Сè е возможно"_, or even "_Све (ј)е возможно"_, but it is not the standard language.


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## Lychnidos

nimak said:


> It all depends on where you live. That "common" word "_невозможно_", along with "_возможно_", do not belong to the Macedonian standard language. The standard Macedonian words are можно '_possible_' and неможно '_impossible_'.



Are you sure возможно and невозможно also aren't part of the standard language? 
On makedonski.info невозможен has quiet a bit higher ranking than неможен, there are also plenty of literature quotes with it (some also from the first work you quoted).  On the other hand for their positive counterparts, можен has a lot higher ranking than возможен.
The rankings align with my personal experience where I live, *можно *is the common word, while *возможно *is rarer (seems to be used more as part of a negation "не е возможно/(this) is not possible" than on its own). For negating the clauses are used more than the single words, "не е можно/(this) is not possible" is used mostly, followed by "не е возможно", then невозможно, but неможно is unheard in spoken language here (don't even recall having heard it by relatives from Skopje or my colleagues which are from quite varied parts).

Where are you from Nimak, if you don't mind? It's quite clear where I'm from.


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## nimak

@Lychnidos I have 400+ posts on this forum, and I haven't broken any forum rule yet. If you want to discuss the Macedonian можно/возможно, please start a new thread in Other Slavic Languages.


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## marco_2

In Polish we say: *Nie ma rzeczy niemożliwych. *(= There are no things which are impossible)  or *Wszystko (jest) możliwe *(without any negations).


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## Sobakus

The most idiomatic equivalent for "is possible" in Latin seems to be _fās est_, but I don't see it used to express our meaning. Since Latin and litote are best buddies, one could put it as:
*nihil nōn fās est* "nothing not is-possible"​Some more established expressions would be:​*nihil est quod fierī nōn possit* "there's nothing that can't be/happen".​Phrasing the same in the positive:​*omnia fierī possunt* "everying can happen" - albeit this sounds questionable to me, definitely not idiomatic.​*nihil nōn fierī potest* "nothing not can-happen" - now that's more like it, good and negatively affirmative in the best Roman tradition.​​Perhaps the most obvious choice would be the word _possibile_, but it's wasn't current Classically except perhaps among philosophers - it first crops up in Quintilian, who begrudgingly uses it to translate _δυνατόν_. An illustrative translation would be using Anglish "maily, maybesome, hapsome, mightsome". If one doesn't mind this, one can use it together with Apuleius and say:
*nihil impossibile*, or better yet *nihil nōn possibile* "nothing is not... canbeable".​


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## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh*

*Nid oes dim byd yn amhosibl*
not is nothing/anything world PRED. im-possible
'Nothing is impossible'

*Mae popeth yn bosibl*
is every-thing PRED. SOFT MUTATION possible
'Everything is possible


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## Lorenc

Olaszinhok said:


> Italian:
> *Tutto è possibile *- Everything is possible
> *Nulla/niente è impossibile *- Nothing is impossible



Yes. You could also say (more emphatic) *non c'è niente di impossibile *there is nothing of impossible


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