nie
German, adverb/niː/
nie is spelled N-I-E (3 letters) and appears 468 times per million words in written German, the 199th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Nie is a German adverb meaning “never, never at all (referring to an indefinite period of time)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “zu keiner Zeit, zu keinem Zeitpunkt”.
What does nie mean in English?
adverb
- 1
never, never at all (referring to an indefinite period of time)
Das ist nie passiert!
- 2
never, not once (referring to a defined period of time; see usage notes below)
Er hat sich in zwei Wochen nie die Haare gewaschen.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adverb: 1. zu keiner Zeit, zu keinem Zeitpunkt
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
How do you pronounce nie?
- /niː/
- [niː]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to nie
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is nie in German?
nie appears 468 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).