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- "The man is not eating pasta."
"The man is not eating pasta."
Translation:Der Mann isst keine Nudeln.
50 Comments
I just came across "the man does not eat pasta" to which the answer "der Mann isst Nudeln nicht" was incorrect, the answer was "der Mann isst keine Nudeln." How is it those two sentences are considered completely different in the first context, yet the same here?
Because nudeln meaning noodles(seems plural but we consider as one like vegetables) or pasta is feminine and thats why keine...this is my understanding
I also have this doubt. noodles is the object, therefore it should be in accusative, right?
Why is it keine Nudeln and not keinen Nudeln? I'm so confused over when to use keinen/einen!
Der Mann isst nicht Nudeln is in my opinion also a correct answer because it is a statement about what he is currently not eating Der Mann ist keine Nudeln means that he does not eat pasta ever so the sentence to be translated is not clear Keine is the short form for nicht eine
Agreed. As the sentence is worded in English, "der mann isst nicht nudeln" is correct. If the sentence said "the man does not eat pasta" then "der mann isst keine nudeln" would be correct.
I disagree, but i could be wrong. I think Der Man isst keine Nudeln is saying that the man is eating, but not pasta.
I think using nicht here is awkward, because it would imply hes not eating at all, but especially not pasta.
Can I get away with saying "Der Mann isst keine Pasta" or should I stick with "Der Mann isst keine Nudeln"? Or is they're a difference in noodles if I do this?
"Nudeln" is a slightly more general term. We normally use 'Pasta' only to refer to Italian kinds of noodles. If you are sitting in an Italian restaurant, they are equivalent. But you wouldn't normally refer to spaetzle as 'Pasta'. But you asked whether you can get away with 'Pasta'. Yes, you can. Nobody will tar and feather you for using it. It's not actually wrong and you will be understood.
It's exactly like English. All pasta is noodles but not all noodles are pasta
That's the opposite of what I'm used to. Noodles are a specific kind of pasta. Spaghetti aren't noodles, macaroni isn't noodles, lasagna doesn't contain noodles, etc. All of them are (or contain) pasta, however.
'Kein' means 'no' and 'nicht' means 'not'. So why is "The man is NOT eating pasta", "Der Mann isst keine Nudelin"? Surely it should be "Der Mann isst Nudelin nicht".
I agree with Penelope15; I think it is closer to the English, because the continuous form of the verb suggests only that he is not eating pasta now, but does at other times, whereas "Der Mann isst keine Nudeln" to me would be better translated as he does not ever eat pasta - he eats no pasta. A different thing altogether!
I agree with christian that you can't bring English grammar into this. Maybe it sounds better to you because you are trying to replace "not" with "nicht" as English doesn't have something similar to "kein". The meaning of German sentences is more based on context which can be complicated if you only have one sentence. If I read a sentence like "Nudeln isst der Mann nicht" I would actually think the opposite of what you are saying as to me it could mean that he never eats pasta.
I'm sorry, everyone! I really didn't mean to say that following English grammar should also explain or parallel German grammar and structures - of course not! But as a native English speaker, I am aware of the subtleties in meaning in the original English sentence, and was wondering why my attempt to put those same shades of meaning into my German translation was wrong. On this point it seems that Lenkvist has tried to explain it for me, and it seems the explanations of negatives in Duolingo German need development. I had thought from them that using "kein" was roughly equivalent to English use of "no", but I did not understand how a different word order can also give a different emphasis to the meaning of a sentence. It has not yet been covered in the lessons I've done.Thank you all for your suggestions!
You were confused in some things: A) There's no continuous aspect in german, that is: - "I eat" = "Ich esse", or - "I am eating" = "Ich esse", but - "I am eating" can not be said like "Ich bin essen". That does not exist in german. (You always use the present tense itself to mean both "i eat" or "i am eating".)
Since there isn't this continuos aspect, your try should be "Der Mann isst nicht Nudeln" (because you're not trying infinitive "essen" anymore), but this is also wrong, because of the negation. For this, I found this helpful page:
http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/negationexpl.html Which I also copied and pasted below (that's not mine):
Handout: Negation with Nicht and Kein
Use kein (and its inflected forms keine/keinen):
• to negate a noun preceded by ein/eine/einen: - Ist das eine Lampe? - Nein, das ist keine Lampe.
• to negate a noun preceded by no article at all (although it may be preceded by an adjective): - Finde ich Bücher hier? - Nein, Sie finden keine Bücher hier. - Finde ich gute Bücher hier? - Nein, Sie finden keine guten Bücher hier.
Use nicht:
• to negate a noun preceded by a definite article (der/die/das) or a possessive pronoun (mein/dein/etc): - Ist das dein Buch? - Nein, das ist nicht mein Buch. - Ist er der Lehrer? - Nein, er ist nicht der Lehrer. (Er ist kein Lehrer would mean that he’s not a teacher at all.)
• to negate entire thoughts, verbs, adjectives, and elements of the sentence other than nouns: - Verstehst du? - Nein, ich verstehe nicht. - Spielst du gern Tennis? - Nein, ich spiele nicht gern Tennis. - Ist die Uhr alt? - Nein, sie ist nicht alt.
Hope that helps!
No, keine negates the noun. Nicht negates the verb.
I belive using nicht to negate essen here would be like saying "The man isnt eating anything, but especially not noodles."
But in this sentence they say Der Mann so why cant we use nicht. We have a verb and the noun is preceded by a definite article
Der Mann isn't being negated. Nudeln is. Noodles don't have a definitive article in this sentence.
You are so awesome, chiults! Thank you, I have been puzzling over the kein vs. nicht for weeks!
Nikola, thank you for such a well thought out and constructed explanation.
My answer to this was: Der Mann isst Nudeln nicht
And was accepted as correct... this makes more sense to me than: Der Mann isst keine Nudeln
That seems like the man doesn't eat pasta at all, rather than he is just not eating pasta presently.
Hmmm, correct me if I am wrong but from what I was studying we use nicht when you make an affirmative with definite article, such as "Der Mann isst die Nudeln". When we use the indefinite article or no article in the sentence we should be using kein.
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I thought kein was "not" and keine was "not a". Yet the translation of the man does not eat pasta uses keine .
I think it s not true to say isst keine .... instead we have to use nicht because the focuse is on the verb not on object
"Nudeln" is a plural, so we use "keine". It would be "keinen" if it were a masculine word and in singular form (and possibly in dative plural also).
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Shouldn't it be translated like "The man is eating not pasta" ? "Keine" applies to nouns, not verbs - isn't it ?
That doesn't work in English, though. If he's eating something else (e.g. rice), you'd say "The man is not eating pasta". You can't "eat not pasta".
After go through all comment, I still do not get it why "nicht" can not fit in this case.
Kein/keine is used to negate nouns. Nicht negates verbs and adverbs. In this instance, the man is eating, but he is not eating noodles specifically. Therefore, you would negate the noodles and not the fact that he is eating.
The first and third options are the same. The app marked it wrong but gave the correct answer as the same as these?!?!
Why can't you say isst nicht instead of keine Nudeln. Both follow correct grammar rules.
Why can't it be pasta instead of nudeln since it shows as a possible translation when I hover over the word?
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There seems to be general acceptance for using "nicht" in this case. I placed it at the end of the sentence. DUO, UPATE YOUR ANSWER !
