I neverIn English, a word like "never" is enough to make a sentence negative on its own, and adding "not" is a mistake. Russian does the opposite: when you use я никогда (ya nikogda) for "I never", you must also put не (ne), meaning "not", right before the action word. For example, Я никогда не спит (ya nikogda ne spit) is wrong; to say "I never sleep", you say Я никогда не сплю (ya nikogda ne splyu), literally "I never not sleep", and "I was never in Moscow" is Я никогда не был в Москве (ya nikogda ne byl v Moskve).