myöskään

Myöskään is a Finnish adverbial particle used to indicate that another proposition shares a negative truth with a preceding clause. It functions similarly to the English neither/not either, signaling that a second item or clause is also not the case in relation to what was stated before. It is closely tied to negation and to the contrast between negative statements.

In practice, myöskään appears after a negated clause to connect a second negative claim. A common construction is en ..., en myöskään ... or en ..., eikä ... In English equivalents: “I don’t like coffee, nor do I like tea.” For example, En pidä kahvista, en myöskään teestä. Another example: Minä en syö lihaa, en myöskään kalaa. These sentences express that both items are not the speaker’s preference or that both statements are untrue.

Myöskään is related to the positive particle myös, which means “also.” However, myöskään is used exclusively with negation and expresses “not … either/neither.” In responses to someone else’s negative statement, Finnish often uses a form like minäkään or sinäkään rather than myöskään, depending on the subject, while myöskään remains a general connective for additional negative clauses.

Spelling and usage notes: myöskään is written with umlaut over the o. It may appear at the end of the clause or immediately after the verb in the second clause, depending on emphasis and rhythm. It is common in both written and spoken Finnish, across formal and informal registers.