"Ich weiß nichts über ihn."

Translation: I do not know anything about him.

[dthreatz]

shouldn't "I know nothing about him" be accepted too?

[KyleGoetz]

It should be. Similarly, "I do not know about him."

[Sanguinius]

No, that would be "Ich weiß nicht über ihn." There is a difference between nichts and nicht. Nichts meaning nothing, nicht negating the verb.

[SallyWard]

I agree with this

[dac123]

"I know nothing about him" was accepted for me, so I guess they fixed it? :)

[RobertLunkez]

nichts means nothing at all, so it's : i don't know anything about him . If it were 'nicht' , it would be ' i don't know about him'

[duuuudeZ]

Why is the accusative used here with ihn?

[dac123]

Because of u"ber (and it's not dative, since it's not referring to location). This might help:

http://german.about.com/library/blcase_acc2.htm

[duuuudeZ]

I'd actually visited this link before I posted, but it mentions "motion versus location", and when there's motion to a location, then a "two-way preposition" (like über) should take accusative, if no motion, then it should take dative. So...in this example I don't see location or motion, so.....it is still unclear to me.

[dac123]

I can see why it is unclear --no motion nor location in this example. And I'm sorry--I may have misunderstood your question, too, since ihn is used in the accusative. Sorry I'm not much help :)

[duuuudeZ]

Well, after a little research, apparently when "über" means "about", it should be followed by accusative. Thanks for your help!

[dac123]

Thank you!

[Sco-tie]

I'm a little frustrated with the difficulty in differentiating between ihm and ihn in the spoken question. :(

[JacobClare]

I do, I know everything about him

[Melkutus]

Ihn is also the accusative of es, why is it not accepted?

[tomerisrael]

What's wrong with "I know nothing about him"?