Negative verb
A negative verb or negation verb is a type of auxiliary that is used to form the negative of a main verb. The main verb itself has no personal endings, while the negative verb takes the inflection. The English auxiliary don't/doesn't performs a similar function by acting as a negative verb that indicates whether one or multiple individuals are involved while the verb referring to the negated activity remains uninflected, e.g. "he cares"/"we care" versus "he doesn't care"/"we don't care".
English
In English, ordinary verbs take the auxiliary do when negated by not.
| Tense | Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| With a negative verb | With a negative adverb | ||
| Nonpast | I go there he goes there |
I don't go there he doesn't go there |
I never go there he never goes there |
| Past | I went there he went there |
I didn't go there he didn't go there |
I never went there he never went there |
Uralic languages
The negative verb is typical of the Uralic languages. Uralic languages inflect by person, thus one word, the negative verb corresponds to e.g. "I don't" (Finnish en) or "doesn't" (ei).
Finnish
The negative verb is conjugated in moods and personal forms in Finnish. In the present tense, the form of the main verb is just the stem of the present form without a personal ending, e.g. lähden – en lähde ("I leave" – "I do not leave"), menisit – et menisi ("you would go" – "you would not go"), syönee – ei syöne ("he/she may eat" – "he/she may not eat"), ottakaamme – älkäämme ottako ("let's take" – "let's not take"). In the imperfect tense, the form of the main verb is the past participle, e.g. otin – en ottanut ("I took" – "I did not take"), otimme – emme ottaneet ("we took" – "we did not take").
Indicative, conditional, and potential
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | en | emme |
| 2. | et | ette |
| 3. | ei | eivät |
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | - | älkäämme |
| 2. | älä | älkää |
| 3. | älköön | älkööt |
Estonian
In Estonian, the negative verb is evident only in the imperative mood.
Indicative, conditional, and oblique
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ei | ei |
| 2. | ei | ei |
| 3. | ei | ei |
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | - | ärgem; ärme |
| 2. | ära | ärge |
| 3. | ärgu | ärgu |
Inari Sami
The negative verb is conjugated in moods and personal forms in Inari Sami:
Indicative, conditional, and potential mood
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | jie´m | eän | ep |
| 2. | jie´h | eppee | eppeđ |
| 3. | ij | eä´vá | eä |
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | eällum | eäl´loon | eällup |
| 2. | ele | ellee | elleđ |
| 3. | eä´lus | eällus | eällus |
Northern Sami
The negative verb is conjugated in moods and personal forms in Northern Sami.
Indicative, conditional, and potential mood
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | in | ean | eat |
| 2. | it | eahppi | ehpet |
| 3. | ii | eaba | eai |
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | allon | allu | allot |
| 2. | ale | alli | allet |
| 3. | allos | alloska | alloset |
Hungarian
Hungarian has lost most evidence of a negative verb, but the negation particle nem becomes ne before verbs in the jussive/imperative (also sometimes called the conditional mood, or J-mood).
Furthermore, the 3rd person present indicative of the copular verb (lenni) has unique negative forms nincs(en) and nincsenek as opposed to nem van and nem vannak, but only when the particle and verb would occur adjacently. In all other instances the copular verb acts regularly. These forms are also unique in that they have an existential role "there is (not)" and "there are (not)". In the present indicative 3rd person, copular verbs are not used; rather the absence of a verb (with or without a negation particle) implies the copula.