nicht or kein? German Negation Made Simple
After this lesson you can say no to anything — and pick the right negation word.
Do this first: ein / eine
nicht or kein? German Negation Made Simple
German has two words for "not", and which one you need depends on WHAT you are negating: a noun takes kein, everything else takes nicht.
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Kulturnotiz
German has no equivalent of the English double negative used for emphasis — "I don't have no money" is not just wrong but genuinely confusing, because two negatives in German cancel out logically. What German does have instead is a rich set of softening words: eigentlich, eher, nicht so ganz. Where an English speaker might soften a "no" with tone, a German speaker adds a word.
Common questions
+What is the simplest way to choose between nicht and kein?
Ask what the positive sentence would look like. If the noun would take ein, eine or no article, use kein. In every other case use nicht.
+Where does nicht go in the sentence?
Before what it negates — nicht müde, nicht oft. When it negates the whole sentence and there is a definite object, it goes at the end: Ich lese das Buch nicht.
+Does kein change its form?
Yes, exactly as ein does: kein Auto, keine Zeit, keinen Kaffee, keine Kinder. If you know the ein endings you already know the kein endings.
+What is the difference between nichts and nicht?
Nicht is "not", a negation word. Nichts is "nothing", a pronoun standing in for a thing. Ich sehe nicht means I do not see; Ich sehe nichts means I see nothing.