A1 · Negation
मत and न: “don’t”, and न with the subjunctive
negative commands and न
मत makes a command negative: मत जाओ. न goes with the subjunctive and polite requests: कृपया धूम्रपान न करें.
At a glance
- Remember
- Commands take mat, wishes and polite notices take na, statements take nahin.
- Form
- मत जाओ / जाओ मतdon’t, to a friend
- Signal words
- मत
- न
- न … न
- कृपया … न
- Trap
- Wrong:यहाँ नहीं बैठो।Right:यहाँ मत बैठो।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| don’t, to a friend | मत जाओ / जाओ मत |
| don’t, polite | मत जाइए / न जाइए |
| formal notice | कृपया … न करें |
| infinitive | देर मत करना |
| with the subjunctive | शायद वह न आए |
| neither … nor | न चाय, न कॉफ़ी |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
A command is negated with मत, never नहीं.
वहाँ मत जाओ, सड़क बंद है।Don’t go there, the road is closed.
न negates the subjunctive and formal requests.
कृपया यहाँ धूम्रपान न करें।Please do not smoke here.
न appears in clauses about what should not happen.
ध्यान रखना कि बच्चा गिर न जाए।Make sure the child doesn’t fall.
न … न means “neither … nor”.
मुझे न चाय पसंद है, न कॉफ़ी।I like neither tea nor coffee.
Example sentences
शोर मत करो।Don’t make a noise.
वहाँ मत जाओ, सड़क बंद है।Don’t go there, the road is closed.
कृपया यहाँ धूम्रपान न करें।Please do not smoke here.
चिंता मत कीजिए।Don’t worry.
ध्यान रखना कि बच्चा गिर न जाए।Make sure the child doesn’t fall.
मुझे न चाय पसंद है, न कॉफ़ी।I like neither tea nor coffee.
6 more example sentences
किसी को मत बताना।Don’t tell anyone.
दरवाज़ा मत खोलो, बाहर ठंड है।Don’t open the door, it’s cold outside.
आप परेशान न हों।Please don’t trouble yourself.
शायद वह आज न आए।Perhaps he won’t come today.
भूलना मत!Don’t forget!
वह न खाता है, न सोता है।He neither eats nor sleeps.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English uses the same “not” in “you don’t sit” and “don’t sit”; Hindi does not. A command takes मत (or, politely, न). नहीं with an imperative sounds like a foreigner’s Hindi at once.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
A command is never negated with नहीं. For “don’t”, Hindi uses मत, before the verb: मत जाओ, “don’t go”; शोर मत करो, “don’t make a noise”; चिंता मत कीजिए, “don’t worry”. With a तुम command it can also follow the verb for emphasis: जाओ मत!.
न is softer. It is the negative of the subjunctive — शायद वह न आए, “perhaps he won’t come” — and so of the formal requests built on it: कृपया यहाँ धूम्रपान न करें, “please do not smoke here”. With आप, both मत कीजिए and न कीजिए are heard; न is the gentler.
न also appears in clauses that look forward: ध्यान रखना कि बच्चा गिर न जाए, “make sure the child doesn’t fall”; and in conditions: अगर बारिश न हुई, “if it doesn’t rain”.
Doubled, न … न is “neither … nor”: मुझे न चाय पसंद है, न कॉफ़ी, “I like neither tea nor coffee”. Here the verb itself takes no further negative.
A closer look
मत with the infinitive
The infinitive used as a gentle command is negated with मत too: देर मत करना, “don’t be late”; किसी को मत बताना, “don’t tell anyone”. This is the form of advice and of reminders, and it is often heard as a parting word: भूलना मत!, “don’t forget!”.
The tag न at the end
At the end of a sentence, न (often written ना in informal text) is not a negative at all but a tag asking for agreement: तुम आओगे न?, “you’ll come, won’t you?”. Its position tells you which one you have.
Worth knowing (1)
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मत is never used in a statement
मत belongs to commands alone. “He doesn’t go” is वह नहीं जाता; वह मत जाता is not Hindi. If the sentence describes rather than tells, the word is नहीं.
वह चीनी नहीं खाता, उसकी चाय में मत डालो।He doesn’t eat sugar, don’t put any in his tea.
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