# Danish: ingenting, intet, ikke noget



## frugihoyi

Kan nogen forklare mig, hvordan at vælge mellem ingenting, intet, ingen, og ikke noget?


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## hanne

Hm, det var en svær en...
Som sædvanlig svarer jeg mere baseret på intuition, end fordi jeg egentlig kender reglerne... (jeg bruger dem bare, men kender ikke teorien bag)

Jeg vil mene at "ikke noget" og "intet" er stort set synonyme, "intet" er mere skriftsprog og "ikke noget" er mere talesprog.
"Ingenting" tror jeg sigter på noget lidt mere konkret - "ikke nogen ting", hvor man har en eller anden ide om hvilke slags ting der ikke er nogen af.
"Ingen" henviser som regel til personer.
I mange situationer kan udtrykkene bruges i hinandens sted.

Jeg føler det lidt som om jeg er ude på tynd is her, så jeg håber der er andre der også vil komme med input.


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## cevita

If i am gonna put my two cents in , i'd say that there isn't much difference between ingenting, intet, ikke noget. 

Ingen means "no one" or "no -", and is used when talking about objects:
There is no one here - Der er ingen her
There are no cars here - Der er ingen biler her
There are no people here - Der er ingen mennesker her

"Ingenting" litterary means "no thing".
"Ikke noget" litterary means "not something".
In most cases it doesnt matter which one you choose:

Hva gør du? (what are you doing?)
Ikke noget / ingenting (nothing)

Hva skal vi gøre? (what are we going to do?)
Ikke  noget / ingenting (nothing)

Intet isn't that much used when speaking, it is more in written context. And used rarely like *hanne* said.

I hope this clarified it a little and didn't confuse you more


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## tru-life

cevita said:


> If i am gonna put my two cents in , i'd say that there isn't much difference between ingenting, intet, ikke noget.
> 
> Ingen means "no one" or "no -", and is used when talking about objects:
> There is no one here - Der er ingen her
> There are no cars here - Der er ingen biler her
> There are no people here - Der er ingen mennesker her
> 
> "Ingenting" litterary means "no thing".
> "Ikke noget" litterary means "not something".
> In most cases it doesnt matter which one you choose:
> 
> Hva gør du? (what are you doing?)
> Ikke noget / ingenting (nothing)
> 
> Hva skal vi gøre? (what are we going to do?)
> Ikke noget / ingenting (nothing)
> 
> Intet isn't that much used when speaking, it is more in written context. And used rarely like *hanne* said.
> 
> I hope this clarified it a little and didn't confuse you more


 
I would translate "what are you doing?" with "hvad laver du?".
"Hvad gør du?" is more like if you are in a situation where you have to make a decision.

Like said "intet" is more used in written context, but you also use it speaking like in "der er intet at gøre"


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## hanne

(yippie, finally I get a chance to say something *on* topic, and then add a few comments on the side.)

I'm pretty sure I say "der er ikke noget at gøre" more often than "der er intet at gøre" - the latter has a slightly more fatalistic ring to it, I think. Which probably again has to do with it being more formal/written language.
I think I only ever use "intet" in speech when I want to stress it, or when I'm somehow joking/playing with the language.

And as tru-life also mentions:


			
				cevita said:
			
		

> Hvad laver du? (what are you doing?)


Is the Danish version of "what are you doing", "gør" is the Swedish/Norwegian choice of verb.



			
				cevita said:
			
		

> Hvad skal vi gøre?


Again, more often you'd use "hvad skal vi lave?", depending on what you mean.
"Hvad skal vi gøre?" only works in a context like "what should we do about that?".


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## tru-life

hanne jeg siger altså "der er intet at gøre". Sådan er vi så forskellige!


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## tru-life

tru-life said:


> hanne jeg siger altså "der er intet at gøre". Sådan er vi så forskellige!


 
Eller nu bliver jeg i tvivl!


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## piccando

Bemærk at *ingen* er fælleskøn (common gender) ental (singular), *intet* er intetkøn (neuter gender) ental (singular) og *ingen* er flertal (plural). Tilsvarende med *nogen* og *noget*.


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## Midan

Regarding the topic's concern, from what i've learnt :

- Ingenting = nothing
- Intet = nothing ( but with 'et' words )
- ikke noget = not anything ( nogen, noget have the same meaning of 'something' but nogen is used for 'en' words and noget is for 'et' words )


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## frugihoyi

This is very confusing indeed.


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## Wilma_Sweden

frugihoyi said:


> This is very confusing indeed.


I don't quite understand it either, I'm Swedish! 

May I suggest that you write some sample sentences where you are unsure which negation to use, perhaps also writing your own suggestions. That way you'll be able to test if you've understood it correctly. 

/Wilma


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