Etymology 1
From Latin intus.
Preposition
inte
- in, inside
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Etymology 2
Contraction of inte (“in”) + e f pl (“the”, definite article).
Contraction
inte
- in the (+ a feminine name in the plural)
Adverb
inte
- (dialectal) not, mainly older dialects in Eastern Norway.
- Synonym: inkje
1903, Thoralf Grue, Solør og solungen, page 16:...saa høgger je inte en stok meir i Lystadskogen.- ...then I shall not chop even one more log in the Lystad woods.
Adverb
inte (not comparable)
- not
- Synonyms: (dated or formal except in certain expressions) ej, (dated or formal except in certain expressions) icke
Jag förstod inte vad du sa- I didn't understand what you said
- (literally, “I understood not what you said”)
Myror är inte stora- Ants are not big
Hästar är inte växter- Horses are not plants
– Är inte hästar däggdjur? – Jo, hästar är däggdjur.- – Aren't horses mammals? – Yes, horses are mammals.
- (literally, “– Are not horses mammals? – Yes, horses are mammals.”)
Jag gillade inte filmen- I didn't like the movie
- (literally, “I liked not the movie”)
Gillade du inte filmen?- Didn't you like the movie?
- (literally, “Liked you not the movie?”)
Jag såg dig inte- I didn't see you
- (literally, “I saw you not”)
Såg du mig inte?- Didn't you see me?
- (literally, “Saw you me not?”)
Jag såg inte dig, men jag såg Nisse- I didn't see you [emphasis], but I saw Nisse
- (literally, “I saw not you, but I saw Nisse”)
Det är inte torsdag idag- It's not Thursday today
Imorgon är det inte fredag, utan lördag- Tomorrow is not Friday, but Saturday
- (literally, “Tomorrow is it not Friday, but Saturday [Är moves before det due to V2 word order – no special behavior related to inte here]”)
Det regnar inte just nu- It's not raining right now
- (literally, “It rains not right now”)
Jag hoppas (att) det inte regnar imorgon- I hope it's not raining tomorrow
- (literally, “I hope (that) it not rains tomorrow [Inte comes before the main verb in subclauses ("(att) det inte regnar imorgon" here – att can be dropped in this case, like that in English)]”)
Om det inte regnar så kan [or "så skulle vi kunna," for a tone of "could"] vi gå på picknick- If it doesn't rain, we can go on a picnic
- (literally, “If it not rains [så – optionally appears after an initial adverbial] can we go on picnic ["Om det inte regnar" is a subclause, so inte comes before regnar, like above)]”)
Han kan inte simma- He can't swim
- (literally, “He can not swim”)
en man som inte kan simma- a man who can't swim
- (literally, “a man that not can swim ["Som inte kan simma" is a subclause, so inte comes before kan, like above]”)
Monstren (som) man inte ser är ofta läskigast- The monsters (that) you don't see are often the scariest
- (literally, “The monsters (that) one not see are often scariest ["(Som) man inte ser" is a subclause, so inte comes before ser, like above. In this example, the subclause might be obscured by som / that being skippable in both Swedish and English (due to the subclause being a relative clause where som / that is not the subject).]”)
Boken (som) du inte (har) läst är bra- The book (that) you haven't read is good
- (literally, “The book (that) you not (have) read [in the supine] is good [This example is like the previous example, with a strictly unrelated additional twist of har being skippable when implied from supine (läst here)]”)
Usage notes
- Getting the word order wrong with adverbials and subclauses is extremely common among Swedish learners. It rarely causes any problems with comprehension, just sounding a bit off, like "a man who not can swim" does in English (though it is the correct word order in Swedish).
- The relevant rule for subclauses is called biff-regeln in Swedish (the biff (also literally steak) rule – "I bisats kommer 'inte' före det finita verbet" (In subclauses, "inte" comes before the finite verb)). It also applies to sentence adverbs, like for example förmodligen (“probably”), möjligtvis (“possibly”), förhoppningsvis (“hopefully”), lyckligtvis (“fortunately”), and kanske (“maybe, perhaps”). (The word order for kanske is a bit more flexible in main clauses compared to the other ones.)
- Inte is often shortened to int in speech in Finland Swedish and Norrlandic dialects.