# Croatian: Niti



## Oranje

What is the function of "niti" in the sentence:

Imao sam osjećaj da ih nitko niti ne primjećuje.​
I've translated it as "I had the feeling that nobody acknowledged them [either]". In the dictionary it appears as a synonym for "ni". Is it essential or is it simply for emphasis?

Thank you


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## trotl

In that sentence it functions similar to the English _*even*_. It's like some sort of intensifier for negation.

_I had the feeling that nobody *even* acknowledges them_.

In other contexts, it has the meaning of _nor_ or _neither_. Like for example in _"niti jedno niti drugo"_ which means _"neither one nor the other"_.


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## Oranje

That clears it up. Thank you.


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## Милан

> Imao sam osjećaj da ih nitko niti ne primjećuje.



@trotl
Can you really say that in Croatian? Niti sounds awkward to me.

In Serbian ni+ne changes to i+ne. Imao sam osjećaj da ih niko i ne primjećuje.


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## aprendiendo argento

Милан said:


> @trotl
> Can you really say that in Croatian? Niti sounds awkward to me.
> 
> In Serbian ni+ne changes to i+ne. Imao sam osjećaj da ih niko i ne primjećuje.



You're right. In standard Croatian it should be ''i ne'',
just like you cannot say ''Na izborima neću glasati za nikoga'' but ''Na izborima neću glasati ni za koga''.
Double negation is common in colloquial Croatia though.


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## Mishe

aprendiendo argento said:


> You're right. In standard Croatian it should be ''i ne'',
> just like you cannot say ''Na izborima neću glasati za nikoga'' but ''Na izborima neću glasati ni za koga''.
> Double negation is common in colloquial Croatia though.



But in some other cases you would use double negation. For example: ne volim nikoga?

Double negation is standard in Slovenian: Na volitvah ne bom nikogar volil.


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## Милан

Mishe said:


> But in some other cases you would use double negation. For example: *ne volim nikoga*?


Yes, ne volim nikoga.
In Serbian we can say _*Ni*ko *ni*kada *ni*gde *ni*šta *ni*je uradio_ and it would be correct.


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## arn00b

Just to add one last thing... 

"Ne volim nikoga" is different from "neću glasati ni za koga" because of the "za" - za, iz, sa, do, od, and so on... take the form of "ni za koga" or "ni s(a) kim"...   The prepositions split the niko, you could say... (That's not a very precise explanation... the prepositions probably just return the "ni ko" to its original, separated spelling, but that's beside the point) 

Transitive, action verbs can continue seeing "niko" as it is... ne vidim nikoga, ne volim nikoga, ne mrzim, etc.  And the same with dative, ne dam nikom(e), ne reci nikom(e) where niko behaves like a -ski ending adjective...   

Hope my weak(?) explanation was of some help.


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## Ljudevit

I second trotl. I would add (in my humble opinion) that "niti" in that sentence, is more like  "not even" or "doesn't even". Using "niti" was pretty common where (and  when) I was growing up. "Niti" and "i ne" have a different meaning for  me ("not even" and "and not"). "Ni" from "ni za koga" is short for  "niti".


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