In short

To make almost anything negative in Ukrainian, put the little word не directly in front of it. It works with verbs (я не зна́ю - “I don’t know”), with predicate nouns where the present-tense copula is silent (це не кни́га - “this is not a book”), and with single words you want to contrast (не я, не сього́дні). не never changes its form - no agreement for person, number, gender or tense - and it is always written as a separate word.

The rule

1. Placement. не stands immediately before the word it negates. To negate a whole statement, place не before the verb: Він не спить. To negate just one element for contrast, place не before that element: Прихо́дь не сього́дні, а за́втра.

2. With the copula. In the present tense Ukrainian has no spoken “is/are” (see the zero-copula lesson), so “this is not X” is simply Це не X - не sits before the predicate noun and no є is added: Це не пробле́ма.

3. Invariance. не is a fixed particle. Whatever the person or tense of the verb, the negator is the same single word; only the verb itself is conjugated.

4. Spelling. не is written apart from the following word, with a space. It carries no stress of its own - the stress stays on the word that follows.

5. Existential “there is no”. For “there isn’t / I don’t have”, Ukrainian does not use plain не but the special word нема́(є) followed by the genitive case (нема́є кни́ги, not нема́є кни́га). That construction belongs with the genitive and is taught there - see the See-also links.

Forms & patterns

не is invariant - it simply attaches to the front of a fully conjugated verb. Compare the present tense of зна́ти (“to know”), affirmative vs. negative:

The same не negates any part of speech, not only verbs:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Це є не книга / Це не є книга -> Це не кни́га - the present tense has no spoken copula; place не before the predicate noun, and add no є.
• Я знаю не -> Я не зна́ю - не goes before the verb, never after it.
• нехочу / незнаю -> не хо́чу, не зна́ю - не is a separate word, written with a space (the few solid-written words like нема́є, нема́ are lexical exceptions).
• немає книга -> нема́є кни́ги - existential negation uses нема́(є) + the genitive (кни́ги), not plain не with the nominative; this is covered with the genitive case.
• Я нічого знаю -> Я нічо́го не зна́ю - a negative pronoun still needs не on the verb (obligatory double negation); this is covered in the negative-pronouns lesson.

Tips

• Put не immediately before the word you mean to negate - verb, predicate noun, adjective, adverb, or a single word for contrast.
• не never changes: not for person, number, gender or tense. Only the verb conjugates.
• In the present tense there is no “is/are”, so “this is not X” is just Це не X - no є.
• Keep не as a separate word with a space; it is unstressed, so read the stress off the next word (не зна́ю, не кни́га).
• To negate the whole clause, не sits before the verb; to negate one element, put не directly before that element (не я, не за́втра).
• For “there is no / I don’t have”, Ukrainian switches to нема́(є) + genitive - you’ll meet it with the genitive case, not here.
• Negative pronouns keep не on the verb too: Ніхто́ не зна́є - double negation is the norm, not a mistake.