Editing Double negative (section)

==Other Germanic languages==
Double negation is uncommon in other [[West Germanic languages]]. A notable exception is [[Afrikaans]] in which it is mandatory (for example, "He cannot speak Afrikaans" becomes ''Hy kan nie Afrikaans praat nie'', "He cannot Afrikaans speak not"). Dialectal Dutch, French and [[Khoisan languages|San]] have been suggested as possible origins for this trait. Its proper use follows a set of fairly complex rules as in these examples provided by Bruce Donaldson:<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftzioRvJzTUC&q=Ek+het+nie+geweet+dat+hy+sou+kom+nie |title=''A Grammar of Afrikaans'', Bruce C. Donaldson, Walter de Gruyter, 1993, p. 404 |isbn=9783110134261 |access-date=2013-08-10|last1=Donaldson |first1=Bruce C. |year=1993 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref>
* {{lang|af|Ek het '''nie''' geweet dat hy sou kom '''nie'''.}} ("I did not know that he would be coming.")
* {{lang|af|Ek het geweet dat hy '''nie''' sou kom '''nie'''.}} ("I knew that he would not be coming.")
* {{lang|af|Hy sal '''nie''' kom '''nie''', want hy is siek.}} ("He will not be coming because he is sick.")
* {{lang|af|Dit is '''nie''' so moeilik om Afrikaans te leer '''nie'''.}} ("It is not so difficult to learn Afrikaans.")

Another point of view is that the construction is not really an example of a "double negative" but simply a grammatical template for negation. The second {{lang|af|nie}} cannot be understood as a noun or adverb (unlike {{lang|fr|pas}} in French, for example), and it cannot be substituted by any part of speech other than itself with the sentence remaining grammatical.  The grammatical particle has no independent meaning and happens to be spelled and pronounced the same as the embedded {{lang|af|nie}}, meaning "not", by a historical accident.

The second {{lang|af|nie}} is used if and only if the sentence or phrase does not already end with either {{lang|af|nie}} or another negating adverb.
* {{lang|af|Ek sien jou '''nie'''.}} ("I don't see you")
* {{lang|af|Ek sien jou '''nooit'''.}} ("I never see you")

Afrikaans shares with English the property that two negatives make a positive:{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}
* {{lang|af|Ek stem '''nie''' met jou saam '''nie'''.}} ("I don't agree with you." )
* {{lang|af|Ek stem '''nie''' '''nié''' met jou saam '''nie'''.}} ("I don't ''not'' agree with you," i.e., I agree with you.)

Double negation is still found in the [[Low Franconian languages|Low Franconian dialects]] of west [[Flanders]] (e.g., {{lang|nl|Ik ne willen da nie doen}}, "I do not want to do that") and in some villages in the central Netherlands such as [[Garderen]], but it takes a different form than that found in Afrikaans. [[Belgian Dutch]] dialects, however, still have some widely-used expressions like {{lang|nl|nooit niet}} ("never not") for "never".

Like some dialects of English, [[Austro-Bavarian language|Bavarian]] has both single and double negation, with the latter denoting special emphasis. Beyond that, triple negation is also present. For example, the Bavarian {{lang|bar|Des hob i no nia ned g'hört}} ("This have I yet never not heard") can be compared to the Standard German "{{lang|de|Das habe ich noch nie gehört}}". The German emphatic "{{lang|de|niemals!}}" (roughly "never ever") corresponds to Bavarian "{{lang|bar|(går) nia ned}}" or even "{{lang|und|nie nicht}}" in the Standard German pronunciation. ''Hat kaaner kaa Messer net do?'' ("Has nobody no knife not here?") is an example of a triple negative.

Another exception is [[Yiddish]] for which [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] influence causes the double (and sometimes even triple) negative to be quite common.

A few examples would be:
* {{lang|yi|איך האב '''קיינמאל''' '''נישט''' געזאגט}} ''ikh hob keynmol nisht gesogt'' ("I '''never''' '''didn't''' say")
* {{lang|yi|איך האב '''נישט''' קיין מורא פאר '''קיינעם''' '''ניט'''}} ''ikh hob nisht keyn more far keynem nit'' ("I have '''no''' fear of '''no one not'''")
* It is common to add {{lang|yi|נישט}} ("not") after the Yiddish word {{lang|yi|גארנישט}} ("nothing"), i.e. {{lang|yi|איך האב גארנישט נישט געזאגט}} ("I haven't said nothing")

{{anchor|Romance languages}}