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Negatives
PRACTICE
Tips and notes

German Negatives
There are different ways to negate
expressions in German (much like in
English you can use "no" in some cases,
and "does not" in others). The German
adverb nicht (not) is used very often, but
sometimes you need to use kein (not a).
Nicht
Simply put, kein is composed of k + ein
and placed where the indefinite article
would be in a sentence. If you want to
negate ein, use kein.
Just like mein and the other possessive
pronouns, kein changes its ending like
ein.

As mentioned in the lesson "Not", you For instance, look at the positive and
should use nicht in the following negative statement about these two
situations: nouns:

Negating a noun that has a definite Er ist ein Mann. (He is a man) — Sie
article like der Junge (the boy) in Das ist kein Mann. (She is not a/no man.)
ist nicht der Junge. (That is not the Ich habe eine Katze. (I have a cat.) —
boy). Ich habe keine Katze. (I have no cat.)
Negating a noun that has a
Here are the endings of the indefinite
possessive pronoun like mein Glas
(my glass) in Das ist nicht mein Glas. article so far:
(That is not my glass).
Negating the verb: Ich trinke nicht. (I masc neut fem
do not drink.).
Negating an adverb or adverbial nominative ein ein eine
phrase. For instance, Ich tanze nicht
oft. (I do not dance often) accusative einen ein eine
Negating an adjective that is used
with sein (to be): Ich bin nicht Here is the list of the respective kein
hungrig. (I am not hungry).
forms:
For details, and to learn where to put
nicht in a sentence, refer to the "Not"
lesson.

Kein

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5/29/2019 Duolingo | Learn German for free

than Der Schüler lernt nichts. (The

masc neut fem plural
student does not learn anything.).
nominative kein kein keine keine
Keiner, keine, keines
accusative keinen kein keine In German,
keine "nobody" can be expressed in
several ways.
Kein is also used for negating nouns
that have no article: Er hat Brot. (He has As long as it refers to people, niemand
bread.) versus Er hat kein Brot. (He has works just fine:
no bread.).
Niemand schläft. (Nobody sleeps.)
As a general rule: There is also keiner. It changes endings
like the definite articles:
If you can use "not a/no" in English,
use kein.
If you need to use "not", use nicht. masc. neut. fem.

Nicht vs. Nichts nominative der das die

Nicht is an adverb and is useful for

accusative den das die
negations. On the other hand, nichts
(nothing/anything) is a pronoun and its
meaning is different from that of nicht. masc. neut. fem.

Ich esse nicht. (I do not eat.) nominative keiner keines keine

Ich esse nichts. (I eat nothing.)
accusative keinen keines keine
Using nicht simply negates a fact, and is
less overarching than nichts. For
For now, we teach only the default
example, Der Schüler lernt nicht. (The
version (which is masculine in German):
student does not learn.) is less extreme
Keiner schläft. (None of them sleeps.)

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