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nicht und kein — Two Ways to Say No
🚫 nicht und kein — Two Ways to Say No
German has two main ways to make something negative. nicht negates a verb, an adjective or a whole sentence; kein negates a noun (it replaces ein). Add the possessives — mein, dein, sein and the rest — and you can say exactly whose things are whose. Getting these right shows the examiner you can do more than string single words together.
nicht vs kein — Which negative?
The first decision in any German negative is simple: are you negating a noun, or something else? A noun takes kein; everything else takes nicht.
Earn the mark scheme marks
💡 Exam Tips & Common Errors
- Quick test: if the word you want to negate would take ein (or no article at all), use kein. Otherwise use nicht.
- Watch the endings — in the accusative, masculine nouns make kein and the possessives end in -en: keinen Hund, meinen Bruder.
- Be careful with sein (his) versus ihr (her) — they are a common source of marks lost in writing tasks.
- Use a possessive plus a negative in one sentence to show range: Ich habe keine Zeit für meine Freunde.
❌ Common error: Ich habe nicht einen Hund.
✓ Correct: Ich habe keinen Hund.
Why it costs marks: to negate a noun introduced by ein, German uses kein, never nicht ein. Ich habe keinen Hund (I have no dog / I don't have a dog) is correct; nicht einen is a calque from English and is marked down as an AO2 grammar error.