What is the difference between nein and kein

Kein vs Nicht. Learning German can be a difficult task for English speaking people. Even if you know that Nein is the word that is used to say no in German, you might be puzzled to see an adverb Nicht and an adjective Kein being used in German, to express negation. People remain confused between Nicht and Kein until they have a good grasp of German grammar. This article attempts to remove some of this confusion to help readers which one to choose between Kein and Nicht when using negation in German.

Dative Case. Accusative Case. Genitive Case. Adjectives and Adverbs. Nouns and Articles. Useful Words and Phrases. Share this article with others:. Compare this to English where there are many other possibilities such as No, not, never, none, nobody, nothing So how do we know whether we should use nein , nicht or kein? Would you like a beer?

Anja here. Ich wohne nicht in Berlin. In these cases, kein replaces the need for nicht. For example, Ich habe einen Hund. For example, Warst du heute einkaufen? Please Sign In to leave a comment. Leave a comment Enter your name. Sorry, please keep your comment under characters. Got a complicated question? Try asking your teacher using My Teacher Messenger. The name field will appear publicly next to your comment.

Please do not enter your email address there. Pinned Comment. Hi Deniz, Thank you for your feedback. Kind regards, Reinhard Team GermanPod Kind regards, Levente Team GermanPod Hi Joe, You are perfectly right. Thank you. If you have any further questions, please let us know.

Hi Marcolorenzo, Thank you for posting. Joe B. Hi, Team! Vielen Dank! Can you say: Ich habe nicht einen Hund. Hi Joe, Thank you for your question. The meaning of "durchschnittsdeutsch" is similar to saying in English "average German".

It isn't strictly speaking a proper word but everyone will understand it as being a combination of "Durchschnitt" and "Deutsch". What I would like to mention though, is that I think of it as a noun and it should therefore be spelled with a capital "D".

Negating a German adjective Die Kinder sind nicht klein. Meine Freundin ist nicht neu in der Klasse. My friend is not new in the class. Bis bald! Steffie Hi there! Like this: Like Loading