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    Plural nouns
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    Gjin can combine with plural nouns as well as with singular nouns, as shown below:

    1
    a. Hy hat gjin kadootsje krigen
    he has no present got
    He did not get a / any present
    b. Hy hat gjin kadootsjes krigen
    he has no presents got
    He did not get any presents
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    Gjin no is more than just the negative equivalent of the indefinite article in a, seeing that in does not combine with plural nouns (except under a high degree reading with special intonation). Furthermore, in is restricted to count nouns (except under the high degree reading) whereas gjin freely occurs with mass nouns:

    2
    a. *Hy hat in bûter kocht
    he has a butter bought
    He bought butter
    b. Hy hat gjin bûter kocht
    he has no butter bought
    He did not buy any butter

    It seems at first sight that there is no difference between gjin + plural Noun Phrase (NP) and gjin + singular NP in object position. However, in the subject position, only one of them may be acceptable. Consider the following minimal contrast:

    3
    a. Gjin skip is grien
    no ship is green
    No ship is green
    b. *Gjin skippen binne grien
    no ships are green
    No ships are green

    In the following example, both the singular and the plural are acceptable:

    4
    a. Der komt gjin skip troch de slûs
    there comes no ship through the lock
    No ship is coming through the lock
    b. Der komme gjin skippen troch de slûs
    there comes no ships through the lock
    No ships are coming through the lock

    Gjin may have the reading not a single one, but only if the following noun is singular; in addition, the intonation must rise on the noun, as if some sort of focus was involved. The negative article cannot be followed by a plural noun when it occurs in the position of indirect object:

    5
    *Se wolle gjin muzykferieningen subsydzje jaan
    they want no music.societies subsidy given
    They do not want to give any musical society a subsidy

    The meaning of the example above must be expressed by having a bare plural in the position of indirect object, and putting the negative article in the NP in direct object position:

    6
    Se wolle muzykferieningen gjin subsydzje jaan
    they want music.societies no subsidy given
    They do not want to give musical societies any subsidy

    The same facts hold when the indirect object is realised as an Adposition Phrase (PP):

    7
    a. *Se wolle oan gjin muzykferieningen subsydzje jaan
    they want to no music.societies subsidy given
    They do not want to give to any musical society a subsidy
    b. Se wolle oan muzykferieningen gjin subsydzje jaan
    they want to music.societies no subsidy given
    They do not want to give any subsidy to musical societies

    The negative article cannot show up before a plural NP functioning as a lexically selected prepositional complement:

    8
    *Hy hâldt fan gjin famkes
    he likes of no girls
    He does not like girls

    Regular negation must be used to express the intended meaning:

    9
    Hy hâldt net fan famkes
    he likes not of girls
    He does not like girls
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra
      Category: Frisian Syntax
      Keywords: Gjin 'no'
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra December 2015
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