"Das ist keine Ente."
Translation:That is not a duck.
88 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Yeah, normal speed there is no 'd' sound but slowmo the whole word is spoken
Nominative masculine: Das ist kein Apfel. That is not an apple.
Nominative feminine: Das ist keine Ente. That is not a duck.
Nominative neuter: Das ist kein Auto. That is not a car.
Accusative masculine: Ich trinke keinen Wein. I don't drink wine.
"Keinen" is masculine accusative. Plural accusative for all genders is "keine".
I drink a coffee. Ich trinke einen Kaffee.
I don't drink coffee. Ich trinke keinen Kaffee. (I drink no coffee.)
I eat eggs. Ich esse Eier.
I don't eat eggs. Ich esse keine Eier. (I eat no eggs.)
Why i am not correct. I answered " it is not a duck "
What wrong? Please somebody explain
How do you distinguish between " That is not a duck" from "That is no duck" in German?
No difference.
Only if you follow it with what it is instead.
Das ist nicht eine ENTE, sondern eine GANS (for example).
Yes, there is; it's right here: keine
keine is sort of like a combination of nicht + eine, and so "not a" is often a good translation.
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Just es a fun thing: "Das ist keine Ente" can also be a quote and has nothing to do with 'the duck' Das ist keine Ente could mean: "It describes something that, even though it may look false, is true." or "something very improbable that has happened or will happen" Native german but living in the US for the last 17 years...
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Oh, my! Even more interesting. For those not conversant with French, the English word "canard" comes from the French word for...duck.
What is it about ducks and false reports?
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Haha, yes! Although anyone who's been a kid on a farm can tell you that both are filled with malice, geese are bigger and scarier for sure.
Here's a brief explanation for "kein" and "keine". Das ist ein Pferd = Das ist kein Pferd. (negative) Das ist eine Frau = Das ist keine Frau. (negative)
See the pattern?
If i wanted to use nicht could i say: Das ist die Ente nicht - That is not the duck. ??
No. The tips and hints give useful advice when to use nicht and when to use kein.
What's the difference between keine, kein and keiner? Masculine, neutral and femamin maybe?
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Similar to the Katze issue. A duck is eatable, so i have used an article "a" and it was accepted?
How do I know if it's That or This. Examples from this course. Das ist kein Stern: This is not a star Das ist keine Ente: That is not a duck
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Wenn es wie eine Ente läuft, wenn es wie eine Ente schwimmt, wenn es wie eine Ente quackt, ist es eine Ente!
Duden agrees with me: http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/quaken
It doesn't have quacken, nor do I remember hearing it pronounced that way.
PONS English/German dictionary, LEO English/German dictionary, Wiktionary also have quaken as a translation of English "quack".
Whereabouts do they say quacken? Or where did you learn it?
In languages like Spanish, you can never negate a noun. However, in German and English, you can. Sometimes we negate verbs. That car is not fast. (Das Auto ist nicht schnell.) And sometimes we negate nouns. This is an example of where it differs in English and German. Das ist keine Ente. Literally in English, That is no duck. When to use “nicht” (to negate a verb) and a form of “kein” (to negate nouns) does take a little getting used to. But soon it will sound completely wrong to your ears to say, Das ist nicht eine Ente. :)
kein(e) works more or less like a combination of nicht + ein(e), so it will often be translated as “not ... a”.
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There are so many comments about the fast speed sounding like "es" from so long ago, it would be nice if Duolingo could do something to fix the problem. It can be a bit disheartening that you make such a simple mistake but it is really the audio and not the listener...
Duolingo isn't aware of the problem until someone reports it, and it is really inefficient if a moderater has to read the forum to look for problems. From now on, please report a problem and don't bother with the forum.
And now for the further advanced German learners: "Das ist keine Ente" can have two different meanings: 1. "This is not a duck." (the animal) - "This is not duck." (in food) 2. "This is not a mare's nest" in the sense of "this is not a hoax" (or fake news). In Germany we also speak of a/"eine Zeitungsente", fake news that first appeared in the newspaper.
If it talks like a duck and quacks like a duck…well apparently it's not a duck!
Shouldn't it be "Das ist keine ein Ente" as the translation says "That is not a duck". Why is ein not mentioned?
I need your help. I still cannot determine when to use such as kein vs keine, ein vs eine, etc.. How do you know when to use which one? In this one, the kein vs keine.
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The indefinite article, "ein", is modified to show the number, gender, and part of speech of the noun to which it refers (we call this "declining" - the article declines according to the noun). "Kein" is the negative of "ein", more or less.
Ein Hund = a dog; kein Hund = no dog/not a dog. "Hund" is masculine.
Eine Ente = a duck; keine Ente = no duck/not a duck. "Ente" is feminine.
This article might be useful: https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/readinggerman/definite-indefinite-article-all-cases/ (Just ignore the rather odd label of "Plural" it gives to "kein".)
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It is how you say "not a" for a feminine noun in the nominative case.
"eine Ente" - "a duck"
"keine Ente" - "not a duck"
I'm very confused about the word ' ein' I mean this sentence's translation would be ' That is not duck' which's not a good English and one must add ' ein' to get ' a' so what rules are in German?? Dunno what but adding 'a' is good English, though.
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Please have a look at https://www.duolingo.com/skill/de/Not/tips.
English is not German. We usually do not use not a (nicht eine) but keine. Literally translated This is not a duck. would be Das ist nicht eine Ente., German does not work like this. Watch the gender:
- masc. (der Bus): das ist kein Bus is this is not a bus
- fem. (die Ente): das ist keine Ente is then this is not a duck
- neuter (das Flugzeug): das ist kein Flugzeug is this is not an airplane
- plural (die Brote): das sind keine Brote is these or not breads
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This is not a phrase book. We are not learning to memorize sentences, we are learning to construct sentences. You could plug in any noun.
Example:
"I think I hear a baby crying."
"That is not a baby, I think it's a cat."