{"id":821,"date":"2010-04-15T20:47:14","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T19:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/?p=821"},"modified":"2013-09-12T13:58:30","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T12:58:30","slug":"kein-oder-nicht-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/821\/kein-oder-nicht-whats-the-difference","title":{"rendered":"Kein or Nicht? What’s the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kein and Nicht?<\/h3>\n

One of the first confusions you will encounter when learning the German language is: What’s the difference between kein<\/strong> and nicht<\/strong> and when should you use them? The problem arises because in English we just have one word that covers both: not<\/strong>. This means you now have to think about the context of the sentence as you say it and think about which German word you need to use. Over time you will instinctively know and you’ll be able to choose the correct word seamlessly.<\/p>\n

When to use “nicht”?<\/h3>\n

Okay, the quick answer is that nicht<\/span><\/strong> is used in any situation except in direct relation to a noun, then you use a form of kein<\/strong>. Therefore if it’s to do with actions or situations you should use nicht<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong>
\nIch kann hier nicht<\/span><\/strong> parken. \u21e8 I can’t park here.
\nIch will nicht<\/span><\/strong> ins Kino gehen. \u21e8 I don’t want to go to the cinema.
\nIch habe nicht<\/span><\/strong> aufger\u00e4umt. \u21e8 I have not cleaned up.
\nIch gehe nicht<\/span><\/strong> zur Arbeit. \u21e8 I’m not going to work.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When to use “kein”?<\/h3>\n

When you want to use not<\/strong> or no<\/strong> in relation to a noun<\/span><\/strong> you should use a form of kein<\/span><\/strong>. Simply kein<\/span><\/strong> is used in situations where nicht ein<\/strong> would otherwise occur. <\/p>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong>
\nIch habe kein<\/span><\/strong> Sofa<\/span><\/strong>. \u21e8 I don’t have a sofa.
\nIch mag keinen<\/span><\/strong> Kaffee<\/span><\/strong>. \u21e8 I don’t like coffee.
\nIch will keine<\/span><\/strong> \u00c4pfel<\/span><\/strong>. \u21e8 I don’t want any apples.
\nIch kenne keinen<\/span><\/strong> guten Zahnarzt<\/span><\/strong>. \u21e8 I don’t know any good dentists.<\/p>\n

The different forms of kein<\/strong> follow the same rules as ein<\/strong> and are explained in our blog “The indefinite Article in a negative Statement.”<\/a><\/p>\n

When you first use these it will be confusing, but do not worry, you will pick it up quite quickly and it will soon become instinctive.<\/p>\n

Learn and enjoy the German language with Jabba<\/span><\/strong>lab<\/span><\/strong>! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kein and Nicht? One of the first confusions you will encounter when learning the German language is: What’s the difference between kein and nicht and when should you use them? The problem arises because in English we just have one word that covers both: not. This means you now have to think about the context […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10884,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions\/10884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}