"Kein weißes Hemd?"

Translation: No white shirt?

[MintyNinja41]

No white shirts?
NO white shirts!?
NO WHITE SHIRTS!?!?!!?
RRRRAAAAAAAWWWRR!!!!!!!
rampages about department store

[B.Lakeland]

In english, it makes more sense to say "No white shirts?".

[Williams_Dakota]

It does though. Imagine this conversation: "Hey, I heard you have great white shirts. Can you hook me up? I have an interview soon." "Sorry, bud. We're all out of white shirts." "No white shirts? Are you sure?" "Yup. Now get out and practice some German."

[stephen_zissou]

"Hey Skeeter, I got you a shirt in every color for your birthday!" "Cool! Wow, you really got me a green one, an orange one ... but wait ... no white shirt?"

Yes, it's contrived, but you might say "No white shirt?" in any situation in which you expect a specific white shirt and it's not there.

You also might say this to an employee who's supposed to wear a white shirt as part of a uniform, but comes in with another color.

[bruisedtoes]

I would say this to my companion going to a formal event who is not dressed appropriately

[hypehuman]

Usually yes, when you expect one or more but see none. But when you expect exactly one and see none, you would say "No white shirt". e.g., when someone was helping you find your white shirt (you only own one), they might come back later and say, "I looked all over the house. No white shirt. Sorry, you must have left it somewhere else."

[XoooOverdose]

Correct, although people do say this sometimes.

[LibinGeorg]

Can somebody explain the differences between weißes, weißer etc

[eddie.scrase]

It depends on the gender of the thing that is white. The endings are different following 'a' (ein/eine/ein) than following 'the' (der/die/das). For example, ein weißes Hemd as against das weiße Hemd.

[TylerHurso]

The strong ending of Nomativ/Neuter nouns such as 'Hemd' is '-es' (from 'das').

'weiß' takes the strong '-es' ending because the preceding article 'kein' does not have the strong ending '-es'. If the preceding article does not have the strong ending, the adjective receives the strong ending by default.

For more on strong/weak endings, check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgRDUCnH2Ps

[frankiebluej]

Thank you! for the link to this video. It finally makes sense!

[Wintermote]

"Not a white shirt" doesn't work, but I've been told that 'kein' is roughly equivalent to 'not a' or 'not an'.

[Lisa80]

Same here. I put "not a white shirt" and got it wrong. Would like to know why it's wrong!

[Knittedduck]

Imagine that you walk into a clothing store and see shirts in every colour but white. In English you would say "no white shirts?" and in German "keine weiße Hemden?"

[az_p]

Honestly, this should probably be a correct solution. I'd be interested in the opinion of a moderator.

[mizinamo]

I agree -- it could be used in a situation such as "I'm going to wear a black shirt tonight." - "Not a white shirt?" (Ich ziehe mir heute Abend ein schwarzes Hemd an. -- Kein weißes Hemd?)

However, as far as I can tell, "Not a white shirt?" has been accepted for at least 2 years. (But the comment you replied to is 3 years old.)

[MartinaSimkova]

Writing "ss" instead of "ß" is not a typo

[RememberWWII]

Do you know what this "ß" is called?

[mizinamo]

Eszett and scharfes S are the terms I've heard most often.

[Regney]

sharp

[Richard153785]

"No white shirt"... might be said to you at a party with a theme of white, when you show up wearing your purple V-neck

[DaddyBearNo1]

The letter ß (also known as sharp S, German: esszett or scharfes S)

[Williams_Dakota]

Why not Keines weisses Hemd?

[-Copernicus-]

I assume you mean "keines"? "Kein" (and "ein" and "mein," etc.) doesn't take an ending in the neuter nominative or accusative or the masculine nominative. So "Ich habe kein Hemd" and "Kein Hund ist grün."

Inflection of "kein" here

[Williams_Dakota]

Thanks, but what's with that keins in the neuter, non-attributive? Is that an alternative and can be interchangeable?

[-Copernicus-]

The non-attributive versions are for when you use "kein" as a stand-alone pronoun rather than with a noun: "Sie haben Brot verkauft aber ich wollte keins."

It's the same for "ein" and the possessive articles as well: "Der Hund ist meiner."