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- "I do not eat cheese."
"I do not eat cheese."
Translation:Ich esse keinen Käse.
104 Comments
also would be nice if hovering over every word in every sentence showed a little table of all forms of this word, gender, examples and so on
and would be really helpful to see all possible correct translations, considering all the she/you/they for sie and weil/dass word order changes
but yeah, at least we have the comments section
You use "kein(e)(n)" when there is no article or an indefinite article both cases...
Oh okay, that makes sense. So does that mean you would only use "nicht" if the sentence were "I do not eat the cheese (Ich esse den Käse nicht)"? Because I also answered with "Ich esse Käse nicht," and was wrong and confused. I don't fully understand when to use "kein-" or "nicht," so if what you say is correct then that will help me tremendously.
The best way I found to think of it is keine functions as "no" and nicht functions as "not" as in grammar in english. You would say "I esse keinen kase" "I eat no cheese" (don't hear it in your head as "i don't eat cheese" this is unhelpful) not "I eat not cheese" Then, with nicht it "not" as in "Das ist nicht meine Rammstein CD" is "not" my rammstein cd" It helps to translate the german into english with german grammar. Always learn those patterns of speech instead of translating into exactly how we phrase things in english.
Best as I understand, "nicht" doesn't typically come after the verb as a general rule.
Now, if the sentence is a simple subject+verb+negation, such as "Ich esse nicht.", then the "nicht" will come after the verb. [I believe you can also "Nicht esse ich," but I don't know if German word order is that flexible or if a native German would ever say that. Maybe a native speaker can shed some light on that].
Typically, though, "nicht" comes before the thing it is negating, unless it's the verb of a simple declarative sentence, in which case it goes to the end, kind of like it is negating the whole verbal idea: "I eat, not."
Oops. It should be "Ich esse den Kase nicht" (although I'm not sure if "Ich esse nicht den Kase" is incorrect). The point I was trying to make was simply that "kein(e/en)" should be used when there is either an indefinite or no article and "nicht" should be used when there is a definite article. Therefore, "Ich esse nicht Käse" is likely incorrect because there is no article attached to "Kase." Word order may also be an issue here, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Based on what I've read, both sentences are correct, but you're right that "Ich esse keinen Käse" is the preferred way to say it (confirmed by a Google search of the two sentences).
"Ich esse Käse nicht" is valid, though, because you're negating the verb (or the whole sentence, depending on how you look at it), not the noun. The difference is of emphasis, though they pretty much mean the same thing in this case.
So if I understand correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong): I eat -> Ich esse I don't eat -> Ich esse nicht I eat cheese -> Ich esse Kase I don't eat cheese -> Iche esse keinen Kase I eat the cheese -> Iche esse den Kase I don't eat the cheese -> Ich esse den Kase nicht
The basic pattern is: subject + verb (+ adverb of time/direct object) + nicht (+ infinitive/adverb/adjective).
So there is a subtle difference in meaning, here, correct? When you say "Ich esse den Käse nicht." (which is correct.), you are implying that you might eat some other cheese or at some other time. But when you say "Ich esse keinen Käse." you are saying that you do not eat cheese period - not ever. Does that sound correct to you native German speakers out there? Danke!
If I understand your question correctly, "Gemuse" is neuter and "Kase" is masculine. Therefore, you use "kein" for both nouns. "Orangen," on the other hand, is feminine and takes "keine." Maybe the confusion comes from the fact that, in the nominative case, masculine and neuter nouns take "kein" and feminine and plural nouns take "keine."
FIrst. you should be using "kein Käse" in this example. To answer your question about where nicht goes in the sentence I will use another example "he doesn't do his homework" "er machte seine Hausaufgabe nicht". Where does nicht go? In long sentences I still have problems with this. Usually and if you are not sure put it as late in the sentence as allowed (before any trailing verbs) eg "Er will seine Hausaufgabe nicht machen"
Occasionally nicht comes earlier, this is usually to emphasise what is being negated. Eg "er fährt nicht zur Schule" he doesn't dirve to school (he walks instead) "er fährt zur Schule nicht" he doesn't drive to school (but is driving somewhere else).
All in all, follow the first rule, and only use the subtle varieties when they come naturally. There are many other more important grammatical things to nail first.
Very quick rule. If the object being negated uses the ein family of articles or has no article then use kein.
If the object being negated uses the der family or the negation applies to a verb/adj/adverb etc then use nicht
Eg. Ich habe kein geld (positive has no article) Ich habe keine Karte (positive uses ein) Das ist nicht das Haus. (das) Ich bin nicht glücklich. (adjective)
1005
Similar to "ein" , kein changes depending on the case and gender.
Nominative: kein(M) ,keine(F) ,kein(N)
Accusative: keinen(M) ,keine(F) ,kein(N)
Dative: keinem(M) ,keiner(F) ,keinem(N)
1005
Kein changes depending on the case and gender of the noun which it is negating
Nominative: kein(M) ,keine(F) ,kein(N)
Accusative: keinen(M) ,keine(F) ,kein(N)
Dative: keinem(M) ,keiner(F) ,keinem(N)
no—I believe the rule (and real German speakers correct me if I'm wrong) is that you use "nicht" in a construction where the object takes an article/qualifier, like "Ich sehe nicht den Tisch" (I don't see the that table), but when it doesn't, like here "Kaese" is not preceded by an article/qualifier, so you use kein.
Another example would be with the construction with which you say people's professions. "Ich bin Lehrer": you don't use an article. Therefore, "Ich bin kein Lehrer."
"Ich nicht esse Käse" can't work because the verb isn't the second place, which is a must.
Actually, along with "ich esse keinen Käse," "ich esse Käse nicht" is also acceptable because the "nicht" negates the verb "esse."
ev13191, your sentence "ich sehe nicht den Tisch" should be "ich sehe den Tisch nicht," I think. Maybe a native speaker can confirm that, but I'm pretty sure that's right.
157
what about "ich esse Käse nicht" duolingo accepted it. so what's up with that? (i'm not being agressive, i'm really asking xD english is not my native language, so, i don't know how to make it sound more... smooth? kind?)
There's nothing wrong with "ich esse Käse nicht"; you've just negated the verb (or the whole sentence, really) instead of the noun. Native Germans might have a preference or a default in choosing whether to negate the verb or noun if there's a choice, but I'm not native so I don't know.
You can look at it this way:
Ich esse Käse nicht = I don't eat cheese
Ich esse keinen Käse = I eat no cheese
Both are acceptable English constructions, though native English speakers definitely will choose the first one over the second one most every time (the second sounds very formal).
(Also, "so what's up with that?" doesn't sound very aggressive to me, I think the "so" softens it up a bit.)
I would like to know this as well, please.
In the question I had immediately before this one, "Das Mädchen isst nicht Orangen" was accepted for "The girl does not eat oranges". In this question, "Ich esse nicht Käse" was not accepted for "I do not eat cheese".
I'm having a hard time discerning the difference.
Here's a great video from a native German explaining when to use "nicht," and when to use "kein": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJYb4L7S6vw
I understand why we're using 'kein'. But couldn't 'nicht' also be correct? When using 'kein', that implies that we're negating the noun. and 'nicht' for negating verbs, nouns w/ def. articles, etc. Like...By using 'kein', doesn't this mean "I do not eat cheese....but I do eat." or whatever. I'm asking if 'nicht' could be acceptable because if it was "Ich esse nicht Käse"...? Like you'd be not performing the action of eating cheese? Or is 'nicht' only used when there is absolutely no noun with an indefinite article involved?
Each lesson has a button for tips. Its been very helpful in understanding why I was wrong when I was confused. It helped with this lesson on negatives. Thanks to the tips before the lesson I am getting better at it but still learning as I take the lessons. The tips are really useful. I stumbled on them by accident. Its the button with the light bulb before you click start.
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"Ich esse keine käse" is not correct? Only keinen is correct here? Is it because Käse is masculine and accusative ?