nemenný

Nemenné refers to words that do not undergo inflection and therefore do not change form to signal category like case, number, gender, tense, or mood. The term is used especially in Slavic grammar traditions (notably Slovak and Czech) to distinguish a class of function words that stay in a single form across grammatical contexts. These words are typically described as indeclinable or invariable.

The main categories commonly included are prepositions, conjunctions, particles, adverbs, and interjections. Prepositions such as in, on, under, with (in Slovak and Czech equivalents) are considered nemenné because they do not take endings themselves, even though the noun that follows them may decline. Conjunctions like and, but, because do not change form. Particles such as just, only, perhaps and interjections like ah, oh are also invariable. Adverbs, including place and time words like here, there, now, yesterday, generally do not inflect. In some languages, certain numerals or quantifiers can be indeclinable in specific grammatical circumstances, though there is variation across languages and dialects.

Exceptions and notes: some words traditionally labeled as nemenné may appear in reduced or special forms in fixed phrases or in cliticized positions. Additionally, the line between nemenné and flexing words can blur in languages with rich clitic systems or in phrases where a word participates in idiomatic constructions.

In grammar analysis, identifying nemenné helps clarify how sentence structure relies on fixed-form elements to connect concepts and indicate relations, while other words carry the main inflectional load.