Niciun or nici un?

Romanian has two very similar-looking patterns: niciun/nicio and nici un/nici o. In neutral contemporary Standard Romanian, write the negative pronominal determiner as one word before a noun: Nu am niciun bilet. (I do not have a ticket.) The space is meaningful: it reflects a different structure, not a personal style choice.

When do you write niciun and nicio?

Write niciun or nicio as one word when it comes before an explicitly named singular noun and means no or not any: niciun with a masculine or neuter noun, and nicio with a feminine noun.

What is the fastest spelling diagnostic?

First ask whether un/o is part of the negative determiner or still means one as a numeral, or acts as an independent article in a contrast. Use the fused form for the ordinary negative determiner; keep the words separate when nici has its own adverbial meaning and un/o is being counted, contrasted, or added as another negative item.

Do not turn the diagnostic into a translation shortcut. English no, not any, neither, and not even can correspond to more than one Romanian structure. Look at the Romanian syntax: ordinary determination points to niciun/nicio, while an overt number contrast points to nici un/nici o.

What happens when the form stands alone?

A standalone negative pronoun is also normally written as one word: niciunul, niciuna, niciunii, or niciunele. In the singular, the pronoun replaces the noun; it is not the determiner niciun/nicio with its noun silently removed.

Why does niciun usually appear with nu?

Romanian normally uses negative concord: nu stays with a negative determiner or pronoun in the same clause. Thus Nu am niciun motiv. means I have no reason, not I do not have no reason. A fronted form still keeps nu: Niciunul nu a răspuns. (None of them answered.) See Romanian negative concord for the wider pattern.

• Use the one-word determiner in an ordinary noun phrase: Nu am niciun plan. (I do not have any plan.)
• Use the one-word feminine determiner with a feminine noun: Nu am nicio soluție. (I do not have any solution.)
• Use the one-word pronoun when the referent is understood: Niciunul nu este liber. (None of them is free.)
• Keep nu before the finite verb even when the negative form is the subject: Niciuna nu vine. (None of them is coming.)

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not write nici un student for the ordinary meaning no student; write niciun student.
• Do not fuse an explicit numeral contrast: Nu am nici un bilet, nici două. keeps nici un separate.
• Do not use niciun by itself as the normal singular pronoun; use niciunul or niciuna according to the referent.
• Do not remove nu because niciun already looks negative. Romanian normally says Nu a venit niciun student. (No student came.)
• Do not confuse the spelling of a word with its syllabification: DOOM3 lists syllable divisions such as ni-ciun/nici-un, but that does not authorize writing the word as nici un in an ordinary negative determiner.