nə

• IPA^(key): /næ/

• Audio (Baku):

  (file)

From Proto-Turkic *nē- (“what”),^[1] 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."^[1]

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”).^[1]

nə (definite accusative nəyi, plural nələr)

1. 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.

2. whatever

   Nə olur olsun!

   Come whatever may!

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.

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

nə

1. what, which

   Synonyms: (South Azerbaijani) nəmə, nəmənə

   Görəsən bunlar nə dildə danışırlar?

   I wonder what language they speak?

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

nə

1. neither; nor
   • 2000, Firidun Ağasıoğlu, Azər xalqı:

     özləri isə nə məğlub, nə də başqasının hakimiyətinə tabe olmuşlar

     while they were neither defeated nor subjugated to foreign rule themselves

• 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.

• IPA^(key): [næ]
• (Xarrâbî) IPA^(key): [næ]

From Proto-Turkic *nē- (“what”).

nə

1. what a, how

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

• nâşmaq (“to do what”)

From Persian نه (na).

nə ... nə ...

1. neither; nor

   Nə hissig nə bûz ― Neither warm nor cold

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

• 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