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- "I do not eat oranges."
"I do not eat oranges."
Translation:Ich esse keine Orangen.
37 Comments
When there´s an object you use "kein" or "keinen" or "keine" (depending on the case). You use "nicht" only when there´s no object. For example: Ich schwimme nicht
Could I still use "nicht" at the end to negate the verb? Like, if I were saying, "I don't eat oranges... but I do juggle them."?
That's a good rule of thumb for the beginning -- the whole story is a bit more complex.
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The problem is that with the English sentence I interpret it as the eating being negated, not the orange. But it seems that in German, at least at this level, if there's a noun in the sentence, the default is negating it, rather than the verb.
Very confusing!
with the English sentence I interpret it as the eating being negated, not the orange.
Really? That is, you think that there is definitely an orange involved but you're specifically saying that what you're doing to it is not "eating" but some other verb?
I would interpret it as the entire sentence being negated -- i.e. "It's not the case that: I eat oranges."
Not "I don't-eat oranges".
it seems that in German, at least at this level, if there's a noun in the sentence, the default is negating it, rather than the verb.
In German, the way to negate an entire sentence is to use kein if there is an indefinite object.
If there is no object or if there is a definite object, then you use nicht to negate the sentence.
Negating the sentence and negating the noun are different things:
- Ich esse die Orangen nicht. "I don't eat the oranges." (negating sentence: nicht at the end)
- Ich esse nicht die Orangen [, sondern die Äpfel]. "I don't eat the oranges [but rather the apples]." (negating noun [and providing correction]: nicht before the element you are negating, i.e. the noun)
I originally wanted to put "keine" in my answer, but the sentence itself does not have an article in it, was that wrong to assume?
Because the german people have decided to not use nicht for countable things :)
Kein, keine, & keinen are used when referring to a direct object. Nicht is used when there is no direct object. (I.e. ich bin nicht gehen = i am not going)
Hi crzirbel, I think catonano has answered your question earlier in this discussion.
can someone tell me why isn't Ich esse keinen Orangen .... i saw they say Ich esse keinen Kase .... now why is keine
Look at "definite article endings":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_articles#The_Definite_Article
Masculine Plural Nominative der die Accusative >d(en)< di(e)
So Masculine: Der Käse gets the en ending while Plural Die Orangen get the plural -e ending
Im wondering that as well. I think it might be like the english 'A' & 'AN' so i think keinen would be like a and kein and keine would be an. Like ein and eine and einen.
I keep understanding those keine sentences as "we eat no oranges", as in, no matter what kind, we won't eat them. Does this structure (using kein etc.) feel like it's the same in meaning as simply wir essen ... nicht, for native speakers?
Hi! I am still not clarified with this question. Can someone provide a turorial or something for a more in deep clarification ? Thank you
I always thought that the "kein" group was similar to the "ein" group and thus they wouldn't have a plural form, forcing us to use the singular here. Am I wrong?
It's accusative plural, that's why it's keine.
keinen would be dative plural.
The endings in the plural are like those of the definite article: diE Orangen / keinE Orangen (nominative + accusative); dER Orangen / keinER Orangen (genitive); dEN Orangen / keinEN Orangen (dative).
Because Orangen is plural and keinen is masculine accusative.
You need the plural accusative keine before the plural Orangen.
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Could anyone show me a way to keep straight if esse should come before keine? I feel like I am missing something when stuff gets flipped around.
Why keine orangen?
Orangen (capital O! it's a noun!) is plural, so you need keine before it.
