# nə
## Azerbaijani
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /næ/
* Audio (Baku):(file)

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Turkic *nē- (“what”), the only Turkic root beginning with /n/. "The earliest [Proto-Turkic] form must have contained a unique initial nasal (generally nasals were not allowed word-initially), having yielded specific reflexes in modern languages."
Cognate with Bashkir ни (ni, “what”), Chuvash мӗн (mĕn, “what”), Karakhanid [script needed] (nē, “what”), Kazakh не (ne, “what”), Khakas ниме (nime, “what”), Kyrgyz не (ne, “what”), Old Turkic 𐰤𐰀 (ne, “what, which”), Old Uyghur [script needed] (ne, “what”), Tatar ни (ni, “what”), Turkish ne (“what”), Turkmen nǟmä (“what”), Tuvan чүү (çüü, “what”), Uyghur نېمە (nëme, “what”), Uzbek na (“what”), Yakut туох (tuoq, “what”).

#### Pronoun

nə (definite accusative nəyi, plural nələr)
* what
    Synonyms: (South Azerbaijani) nəmə, nəmənə
    Bu nə deməkdir?What does this mean?
** 2017, Vahid Çəmənli, Hər şey yaxşıya doğru:Babam durub oturdu, mən də qaça – qaça onların yanına gəldim ki, görüm, Əyyub dayı nə deyir, babam nə deyir.My grandfather sat back down, while I run towards them to see what uncle Əyyub and my grandfather have to say.
* whatever
    Nə olur olsun!Come whatever may!

##### Declension

The words nə and su (and sometimes mövqe) are the only ones in Azerbaijani to take a y in the singular accusative, genitive, and dative cases, and in the singular possessive forms.

##### Derived terms

* heç nə (“nothing”)
* nəyin ki (“than”)
* nəçi (“who by occupation”)

#### Determiner

nə
* what, which
    Synonyms: (South Azerbaijani) nəmə, nəmənə
    Görəsən bunlar nə dildə danışırlar?I wonder what language they speak?

#### See also

| English | Azerbaijani |
| what | nə, (dialectal) nəmənə |
| who | kim |
| which | hansı |
| which (in a numbered series) | neçənci |
| who (by occupation) | nəçi |
| who (by origin) | haralı |
| where (which place) | hara, hayan, (colloquial) hanı, (dialectal) həncəri |
| where (at which place) | harada, hayanda |
| whither (to which place) | hara, haraya, hayana |
| whence (from which place) | haradan, hayandan |
| when | nə vaxt, nə zaman, haçan, (colloquial) havaxt |
| why | niyə, nə üçün, neyçün |
| how | necə, nətər, nə təhər, (archaic) nə tövr, nə cür, (dialectal) həncəri |
| how much | nə qədər |
| how many | neçə |

### Etymology 2

From Persian نه (na). Cognate to Old English ne (“not”).

#### Conjunction

nə
* neither; nor
** 2000, Firidun Ağasıoğlu, Azər xalqı:özləri isə nə məğlub, nə də başqasının hakimiyətinə tabe olmuşlarwhile they were neither defeated nor subjugated to foreign rule themselves

##### Usage notes

* Not used alone but rather as nə...nə..., the way it is used is directly copied from Persian نه...نه...(“neither; nor”). Often used in form of nə + nə də.

### References

* 1 2 3 Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*nē-”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill.

## Khalaj

| Perso-Arabic | Perso-Arabic | نه |

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [næ]
* (Xarrâbî) IPA: [næ]

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Turkic *nē- (“what”).

#### Adverb

nə
* what a, how

##### Derived terms

* nə̂rsə (“what”)
* hêç nə (“nothing, anything”)

##### Related terms

* nâşmaq (“to do what”)

### Etymology 2

From Persian نه (na).

#### Conjunction

nə ... nə ...
* neither; nor
    Nə hissig nə bûz ― Neither warm nor cold

##### Usage notes

* Not used alone but rather as nə...nə..., the way it is used is directly copied from Persian نه...نه...(“neither; nor”).

### References

* Doerfer, Gerhard (1980) Wörterbuch des Chaladsch (Dialekt von Charrab) [Khalaj dictionary] (in German), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
* Doerfer, Gerhard (1988) Grammatik des Chaladsch [Grammar of Khalaj] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, →OCLC