Ingenting

Ingenting is a pronoun used in Swedish and Norwegian meaning "nothing" or "not anything." It denotes the absence of something or the negation of a statement, and is common in everyday language as well as in written text. The term can function as the subject or the object of a sentence, depending on the construction.

In sentence structure ingenting typically follows a negation such as "inte" and appears in combinations that express nonexistence or non-quantity. Examples include "Det finns ingenting här" (There is nothing here) and "Jag såg ingenting" (I didn’t see anything). It can also be used for emphasis with phrases like "ingenting alls" (absolutely nothing). For plural or countable nouns, speakers often use "inga" instead of ingenting, as in "inga problem" (no problems).

Etymology and cognates: ingenting is formed as a compound involving a negation and a word component related to "thing." It has close cognates in Danish and Norwegian, where the equivalent word is also ingenting. The development of the word reflects the common Scandinavian pattern of expressing negation through a fixed negative prefix combined with a noun or pronoun.

See also: inget, inga, ingenting alls.