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- "The salt is not bad."
"The salt is not bad."
Translation:Das Salz ist nicht schlecht.
April 17, 2013
19 Comments
Kein negates a noun, not verbs. Nicht negates verbs and adjectives, but not nouns.
Das Salz ist gut = the salt is good. Das Salz ist nicht gut. Nicht is negating "gut" not the salt itself. In this example Das Salz ist nicht schlecht, nicht is negating schlect. Kein wouldnt work. You cant say: the salt is no bad. Kein doesnt mean "not"
You would use kein if you were saying: Das Salz ist kein Apfel. The salt is not an apple.
I have found that German is in a lot of ways like that archaic English you read in fantasy novels. Thee/thou etc. Kein is like saying "that is no orc horn" or that is no apple".