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- "We do not have bread."
"We do not have bread."
Translation:Wir haben kein Brot.
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"Kein" is used to negate nouns and "nicht" is used to negate adjectives, adverbs and verbs. I'm just a beginner but I know most of the basics, I hope this helps :)
"keinen" is for masculine accusative, and while this is accusative, Brot is actually neuter (das Brot), so it remains as "kein".
The rule is that Kein is used when the sentence has 'a/an' or when the sentence has no article(a/an/the) where as nicht is used with definite article(the). Here the sentence does not have any article hence we would use kein.
When to use kein?
You use kein (meaning both “no” and “none”) to negate: A noun (when no article, or an indefinite article—like the English “a” or “an”—is present). Es gibt keine Bananen. (There are no bananas.) Careful: in English, you could also use “not” to say es gibt nicht Bananen (there aren’t bananas), but this is not grammatically correct in German! In place of a noun, to mean “none”, when the subject is already known. Gibt es Bananen? (Are there bananas?) Nein, es gibt keine. (No, there are none.) Note the change in ending here. Just like the indefinite article ein (a, an), kein needs to be “declined”— its ending changing accordingly. The extra e on the end of the stem kein above indicates a plural.
When to use nicht?
You use nicht (not) to negate: A verb. Er schwimmt nicht. (He doesn’t swim.) A noun (only when a definite article—der, die or das [the]—is present). Ich kenne den Film nicht. (I don’t know the film.) A proper noun (e.g. a name). Sie heißt nicht Maria. (Her name’s not Maria.) A possessive adjective—mein (mine), dein (yours), ihr (hers), etc. Das ist nicht mein Auto. (That’s not my car.) An adjective or adverb. Diese Banane ist nicht reif. (This banana is not ripe.)
