Determiner
geen
- no, not a, not an, not any
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɣeːn/
- (Northern) IPA(key): [ɣeɪn], [xeɪn], [χeɪn]
- (Southern) IPA(key): [ʝeːn], [xeːn]
- Hyphenation: geen
- Rhymes: -eːn
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch negeen, ne gene, (also as engheen, en geen), from Old Dutch chein, ghein, nehein (“not one; none”), ultimately corresponding to Proto-Germanic *nehw ainaz (“nor one”). Compare German kein, Yiddish קיין (keyn), English none.
Determiner
geen
- no, not a, not an, not any
- Ik ben geen robot. ― I'm not a robot.
- none
Usage notes
- This determiner could historically be inflected, as visible in forms such as gener (surviving in generlei).
Etymology 2
From Middle Dutch gene, from Old Dutch *gēn, from Proto-West Germanic *jain, from Proto-Germanic *jainaz. Compare German jener.
Adjective
geen (not comparable)
- (archaic except in set phrases) yonder, yon, that
- de gene zijde ― the far side (literally, “yonder side”)
- deze en gene ― some people (lit., "this and that [person]")
Declension
This word, when used at all, is today usually preceded by a definite article or a demonstrative. Because of this, the uninflected form is very rare in contemporary Dutch.
More information Declension of, uninflected ...
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Pronunciation
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References
- 1846, Horatio Hale, Ethnography and philology, Vol. VI of Reports of the United States Exploring Expedition, under the command of Charles Wilkes
- 1892, James Günther, Grammar and Vocabulary of the Aboriginal Dialect called the Wirradhuri, in John Fraser (ed.), An Australian Language
- 1904, R. H. Mathews, The Wiradyuri and other languages of New South Wales, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 34