Niets

Niets is the Dutch word for nothing. In ordinary language it functions as an indefinite pronoun or noun denoting the absence of anything or the negation of a statement. It is used in phrases such as "Ik heb niets gezien" (I saw nothing) or "Niets bijzonders" (nothing special). As a pronoun, niets can serve as the subject or object of a sentence, and it is typically reinforced by a negation or context that makes the absence clear.

The word is formed from niet "not" and iets "something", and has appeared as a fixed compound in Dutch since medieval times. In modern Dutch it remains the standard way to express total negation of quantity or existence.

In philosophy, het niets or nothingness refers to the concept of the absence of being. It is discussed in existentialist and phenomenological traditions, as well as in religious and spiritual contexts that address emptiness or void. Dutch translations of philosophical texts often render terms such as "the nothing" as het niets. The term thus operates both as a linguistic item and a conceptual notion.

Beyond philosophy, niets appears throughout literature, journalism, and everyday speech to signal absence, emptiness, or triviality. See also: Nothing, Nihilism, Emptiness.