"He is neither here nor there."

Translation: O ne burada ne de orada.

[annieke_b]

Where does the 'ne' come from in this sentence?

[mizinamo]

"ne ... ne (de) ..." = "neither ... nor ...".

Compare the similar patterns "hem ... hem (de) ..." = "both ... and ..." and "ya ... ya (da) ..." = "either ... or ...".

[MarcinM85]

Is "de" optional in those constructions then?

[Nana959697]

Yes sir

[Ash784955]

If you can remember that ya...ya = either...or, then ne...ne = neither...nor

[joklomo]

Could someone please explain why it is buraDA and oraDA? I still don't really get it. In which situation are you just using the root? And when do you use only bu?

[Ektoraskan]

If you can replace "here/there" by "this place / that place," use "bura/ora".

If you can replace "here/there" by "IN this place / IN that place," use "burada/orada".

Let's try:

--> He's neither this place nor that place.

--> He's neither IN this place nor IN that place.

Only the second one makes sense. So, it's gonna be "burada/orada".

Bu just means "this". Like: Bu ev = This house.

[mizinamo]

And "bu" is "this" as both a demonstrative pronoun ("Bu kırmızı", this is red) and as a demonstrative adjective ("Bu ev kırmızı", this house is red).

Some languages differentiate between the two, but Turkish and English both allow both uses of the same word here.

[joklomo]

Thank you so much!

[pat360646]

Thanks for that I have been struggling too