Russian morphology: negative prefix не-

  Russian prefix не- comes from нет and works just as English prefixes un-, non-, in- etc. When you see a word starting with не-, there is a very big chance it means something negative. If you know what this word would mean without не-, you can guess the meaning of it with the prefix.

Some examples:

Adjectives:

небольшой - small

невысокий - short, low

неженатый - single, unmarried

неважный - unimportant

непонятный - incomprehensible

некрасивый - ugly

некоторый - some, unspecified

невероятный - incredible, impossible

нежирный - low-fat

Pronouns:

некто - somebody

нечто - something

Adverbs:

немного - a little, some, bit

недавно - recently, not long ago

недалеко - nearby

неправильно - wrong

Numeral adjective:

несколько - a few, several

Verbs:

невзлюбить - take a dislike to

недолюбливать - have little liking

Nouns:

невинность - innocence, guiltlessness

неточность - inaccuracy

независимость - independence

Remember that there are words starting with не- where it's not a prefix, but a part of the word's root, such as:

нежный - tender

неделя - week

нефть - oil, petrol

немой - mute

неон - neon (and not “un-he” ^^).