A2 · Section 9

Joks: No, Not Any

*Niekas* (¶137) denies a person or a thing; **joks, jokia** denies a *kind*, and being an adjective in its behaviour it agrees with the noun it denies — *joks studentas, jokios problemos, jokių baldų*. It carries the doubled negative with it, and under a negated verb it goes into the genitive with its noun.

Joks: Not Any at All

191.Joks, jokia is the negative of koks (¶51): where koks? asks what kind of? and toks answers of that kind (¶134), joks answers of no kind at all. It is a pronominal adjective — it stands before a noun and agrees with it in gender, number and case, exactly as toks does. This is what separates it from niekas (¶137), which is a pronoun standing alone for nobody, nothing: Niekas neatėjo is nobody came, but Joks studentas neatėjo is no student came. English often has only no or any for both, so the choice must be made on the Lithuanian side: if a noun follows, the word is joks.

Joks studentas neatėjo.: No student came. — masculine nominative singular, agreeing with *studentas*
Jokia knyga man nepatinka.: I do not like any of the books. (lit. no book pleases me) — feminine, agreeing with *knyga*
Kokių klausimų turite? — Jokių.: What questions do you have? — None. — *joks* answers *koks* as a negative

[1] Sources: Ambrazas (ed.), Lithuanian Grammar (1997), on the pronouns, where joks is classed with niekas and nė vienas among the negative pronouns and described as declining like an adjective; Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas for the citation forms joks, jokia.

Joks Declines Like Toks

192.Joks takes the endings of toks, tokia (¶134) — that is, the ordinary adjectival endings of the -as / -a type with the softening i running through the stem (¶6). Nothing here is new but the stem: whoever can decline toks can decline joks. Note the syncretism the table shows: jokių is the genitive plural of both genders, and jokios is at once the feminine genitive singular and the feminine nominative plural — the two forms met oftenest, and the two most often mistaken for each other.

Neturiu jokio plano.: I have no plan at all. — masculine genitive singular
Nematau jokios problemos.: I see no problem. — feminine genitive singular
Jokiuose namuose nebuvo šviesos.: There was no light in any of the houses. — masculine locative plural

joks, jokia — singular
	masculine	feminine
nominative	joks	jokia
genitive	jokio	jokios
dative	jokiam	jokiai
accusative	jokį	jokią
instrumental	jokiu	jokia
locative	jokiame	jokioje

The feminine nominative and instrumental singular are both jokia; the case is read off the noun (jokia knyga against jokia knyga nepatenkintas).

joks, jokia — plural
	masculine	feminine
nominative	jokie	jokios
genitive	jokių	jokių
dative	jokiems	jokioms
accusative	jokius	jokias
instrumental	jokiais	jokiomis
locative	jokiuose	jokiose

One genitive plural jokių for both genders, as in every adjective (¶56). Jokių is by far the commonest form of the word, because the negated verb sends its object into the genitive (¶194).

[1] Sources: Ambrazas (1997), the declension of the pronominal adjectives, koks / toks / joks sharing one paradigm; Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas, entry joks, -ia.

Joks Requires the Verb to Be Negated

193.Joks belongs to the negative series of ¶137, and it obeys the same law: a negative word in the clause requires the verb to be negated as well. Joks studentas neatėjo, never Joks studentas atėjo. The doubling is not emphasis and cannot be dropped; a sentence with joks and an affirmative verb is not a weaker denial but a mistake. Joks stacks freely with the other negatives, and the clause is no less ordinary for it: Niekas niekada nesakė jokio žodžio.

Jokia knyga man nepatinka.: No book appeals to me. — *jokia* and *ne-* together
Niekas niekada nesakė jokio žodžio.: Nobody ever said a single word. — four negatives, one clause
Nėra jokios problemos.: There is no problem. — *nėra* is the negated *yra*; the subject stands in the genitive

[1] Sources: Ambrazas (1997), on negation — Lithuanian is a negative-concord language, and niekas, niekada, niekur, joks, nė vienas all require the negated verb; the same rule is stated for this course at ¶137. Nėra + genitive as the negative existential is Ambrazas's treatment of the negated būti.

Joks under a Negated Verb Stands in the Genitive

194.Because the object of a negated verb goes into the genitive (¶26, ¶31), and because joks almost always sits in the clause of a negated verb (¶193), the genitive is the case in which the word is usually met: jokio, jokios, jokių. The adjective and its noun move together — Neturiu jokio laiko*, not jokį laiką. The plural jokių does the work of English any before a plural or a mass noun: neturiu jokių draugų, nebuvo jokių baldų. A verb that already governs the genitive (¶169) keeps it, with or without joks: nebijau jokio šuns*.

Neturiu jokio laiko.: I have no time at all. — accusative *laiką* → genitive *laiko* under *ne-*
Jis neturi jokių draugų.: He has no friends.
Nebijau jokio šuns.: I am not afraid of any dog. — *bijoti* governs the genitive in any case (¶169)
Nė viename bute nebuvo jokių baldų.: There was no furniture in any of the flats. — negated existential *nebuvo* + genitive

[1] Sources: the genitive of negation is Ambrazas (1997) and ¶26 / ¶31 of this course; that the attribute follows its noun into that case is ordinary agreement (¶17). Verbs governing the genitive independently of negation are ¶169.

After Be, and Standing Alone

195.There is one common place where joks appears without a negated verb: after the preposition be without (¶33), which carries the denial itself. Jis dirbo be jokių problemų — the verb is affirmative and the sentence is correct. The phrases be jokio vargo* without any trouble and be jokių problemų without any trouble at all are fixed and worth learning whole. Joks also stands alone, its noun understood, as the short answer to a question with koks: Kokių klausimų turite? — Jokių. Nothing is negated there because there is no verb. The instrumental jokiu būdu by no means is likewise fixed; used with a verb it returns to the rule of ¶193 and takes the negation: Jokiu būdu neik ten!*

Jis dirbo be jokių problemų.: He worked without any problems. — *be* + genitive; the verb stays affirmative
Be jokio vargo išmokau lietuviškai.: I learned Lithuanian without any trouble.
Jokiu būdu neik ten!: Do not go there under any circumstances! — with a verb, the negation returns
Kokių baldų yra bute? — Jokių.: What furniture is there in the flat? — None.

[1] Sources: be + genitive is ¶33 (Ambrazas 1997, the prepositions); Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas records the fixed phrases jokiu būdu, be jokio vargo under joks and būdas.

Joks against Nė Vienas

196.Nė vienas, nė viena not a single one is the other member of the negative series, and it denies by counting where joks denies by kind. It declines like the numeral vienas (¶79) and, like joks, requires the negated verb. Where a definite set has been named, and above all after a partitive iš (¶30), Lithuanian uses nė vienas: Iš trijų butų nė vienas man nepatiko. Where no set is in view and the denial is of the whole kind, it uses joks: Man nepatinka joks butas — no flat of any sort. Both are stronger than a plain ne-; neither may be used with iš and joks together.

Iš trijų butų nė vienas man nepatiko.: Not one of the three flats appealed to me. — a counted set: *nė vienas*
Man nepatinka joks butas.: I do not like any flat at all. — the kind denied: *joks*
Nė vienas studentas neatsakė.: Not a single student answered.

The negative words met so far
	what it denies	stands with
niekas	nobody, nothing	alone, as a pronoun
joks	any of the kind	a noun it agrees with
nė vienas	one of a counted set	a noun, or iš + genitive
niekada / niekur	the time, the place	the verb

Every one of them requires the verb to be negated (¶193).

[1] Sources: Ambrazas (1997) on the negative pronouns niekas, joks, nė vienas and on the partitive genitive after iš; Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas, entries joks and vienas.

Vocabulary

joks: no, not any, none (of the kind) · pronoun; joks, jokia, jokį, jokią, jokio, jokios; Declines like toks (¶134) and requires the verb to be negated: Joks studentas neatėjo.
nė vienas: not a single one, none of them · pronoun; nė vienas, nė viena, nė vieną; Denies by counting; the usual word after iš + genitive: nė vienas iš jų.
jokiu būdu: by no means, under no circumstances · adverb; Fixed instrumental phrase; with a verb the negation still stands: Jokiu būdu neik!
problema: problem · noun; problemos, problemą, f., 2
vargas: trouble, hardship · noun; vargo, vargą, m., 1; Chiefly met in the fixed be jokio vargo — without any trouble.
baldai: furniture · noun; baldų, baldus, m., 1; Used in the plural, as English uses the mass noun furniture.

Drill this section Next: Checkpoint: Definite Forms, Clauses, the Infinitive, and Joks