German Steps - Language notes - Saying 'no'

In German there are many ways to make a sentence negative, for example when you say what you don't have or don't want.

nein

If you're responding to a question in the negative, you simply use nein to say no. You can use nein on its own.

kein, keine, keinen

These words are used in negative sentences, and change the word a to not...any or no.

You simply add the letter 'k' before ein, eine, or einen, depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine or neuter.

At times you'll hear the words keinen and keinem. You'll see and hear these forms when they appear at certain positions in the sentence, eg. after verbs and prepositions.

nicht

Nicht makes the verb negative and is used to say what you don't do. It always comes after the verb.