In German, you can use negation words like nicht(not), kein(no, not one), or nein(no!) to make negative statements — to say something isn’t true, to refuse something, or to talk about things that didn’t happen or aren’t happening.
What if you were at a restaurant and the waiter brought you the wrong order or charged you for the wrong item? You would definitely want to let them know, right?
Entschuldigung, ich habe das nicht bestellt.
Excuse me, I didn’t order that.
Entschuldigung, ich habe keinen Tee bestellt.
Excuse me, I didn’t order tea.
lit. Excuse me, I ordered no tea.
In this article, we will discuss all about how to negate verbs and nouns as well as some phrases and words that negate statements. And yes… saying simply “no” will be covered as well. Or as my toddler would say Nein, nein, nein!(No, no, no!). Who can relate?
When to use ‘nicht’ vs. ‘kein’ in German?
The words nicht(not) and kein(no, not any) are both used to negate elements of a German sentence. Here is the difference:
kein(no, not any) is used to negate and .
nicht(not) is used everywhere else: to negate , , , etc.
Let’s look at an example to show you how this works! Let’s say we want to negate something in the sentence below.
Wir gehen heute in ein teures Restaurant.
We are going to an expensive restaurant today.
There are a few different ways you can go about doing that:
Negate the verb → nicht
verb
Wir gehen nicht in ein teures Restaurant.
We are not going to an expensive restaurant.
Negate the adverb → nicht
adverb
Wir gehen nicht heute in ein teures Restaurant (sondern morgen).
We are going to an expensive restaurant not today (but tomorrow).
Negate the adjective → nicht
adjective phrase
Wir gehen in ein nicht so teures Restaurant.
We are going to an inexpensive restaurant.
lit. We are going to a not so expensive restaurant.
Negate the noun phrase → kein
noun phrase
Wir gehen in kein teures Restaurant.
We are not going to any expensive restaurants.
lit. We are going to no expensive restaurant.
Note:We still use nicht with pronouns and some noun phrases. Keep learning to learn more!
And now, let’s explore how to do all the negations above by looking at nicht and kein in more detail.
‘Nicht’: When to use it and where to put it in German negatives
As we just saw, nicht(not) is mostly used to negate verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. However, you can also use nicht before a noun with a definite article, as a way to contrast it with something else.
I have some great news, too: nicht is invariable so you’ll only have to learn the rules about when to use it and where to put it. Let’s have a look!
Broadly, nicht comes after a conjugated verb, but before any other element it negates. Read the generalizations and examples below for more detail.
When negating a verb, nicht directly follows the verb and any it has.
verbobject'nicht'
Ich trinke dieses Getränk nicht.
I don’t drink this beverage.
If you have other elements in your sentence, like , , , or from separable-prefix verbs, you have to place nicht before them.
'nicht'past participle
Ich habe das nicht getrunken.
'nicht'adverb
Ich habe das nicht schnell getrunken.
I did not drink that quickly.
'nicht'infinitive
Ich werde dieses Getränk nicht trinken .
I won’t drink this drink.
nichtseparated prefix
Ich trinke dieses Getränk nicht aus.
I’m not finishing this drink.
→ austrinken(to finish) is a separable prefix verb
When negating an adjective or adverb, nicht usually comes before the word or phrase it negates:
'nicht'adjective
Das Getränk ist nicht lecker.
The drink is not delicious.
'nicht'adverb
Wann kommst du an? - Nicht heute.
When are you arriving? - Not today.
You can reverse the order in the example above and reply by saying heute nicht(lit. "today not") instead of nicht heute(not today).
adverb'nicht'
Arbeitest du heute im Büro? - Heute nicht.
Are you working from the office today? - Not today.
What is the difference?
When nicht is at the end, it negates the whole sentence, meaning “I do not work today.”
When nicht comes before the adverb, it only negates the adverb, so it roughly means “ I work not today (but some other day).” We usually expect some more explanation with this order.
For example:
'nicht'adverb
Speaker A:Ok, wann kommst du stattdessen an?
Ok, when are you arriving instead?
When it negates a pronoun, nicht usually comes before the pronoun.
'nicht'possessive pronoun
Das Buch ist nicht meins.
'nicht'personal pronoun
Bist das nicht du in dem Foto?
Is that not you in the photo?
When it negates a noun with a definite article, nicht comes before the definite article. Since you’re contrasting two nouns, you’ll need to put sondern(but) in front of the noun you want to contrast.
'nicht ... sondern'definite article + noun phrase
Ich trinke nicht die Tasse Tee, sondern die Tasse Kaffee.
I’m drinking not the cup of tea but the cup of coffee.
How to use ‘kein’ in German?
In German, kein(e) is a negative indefinite article, meaning that it is used to negate nouns that, in an affirmative sentence, would be used with no article or with an indefinite article. It corresponds to English constructions like “no + noun(s)”:
Wir haben leider keinen Apfelstrudel.
Unfortunately we’re out of apple strudel.
lit. We have no apple strudel.
Let’s take a closer look at how to use this negative word!
What is the declension of ‘kein’?
Luckily, the declension of kein exactly matches the endings of the German indefinite articles ein, eine and ein! The only difference is that kein, unlike the indefinite articles, has a plural form.
Nominative | | | | |
|---|
Accusative | | | | |
|---|
Dative | | | | |
|---|
Genitive | | | | |
|---|
How to memorize?The endings of
kein follow a variation on the mnemonic we introduced in our post on
German definite articles:
_E_E – NE_E – MRMN – SRSR. Each cluster of letters represents the endings of
kein in one case!
Why does kein have plural forms even though ein does not? Because we sometimes want to say that a group of things, rather than a single thing, is not present. Compare:
singular
Es gibt in diesem Restaurant kein Fleisch.
There is no meat in this restaurant.
plural
Das Restaurant serviert keine Fleischgerichte.
The restaurant doesn’t serve meat dishes.
lit. The restaurant serves no meat dishes.
When negating nouns preceded by an indefinite article in German, try to use kein as much as possible as it’s the preferred usage.
❌Wir haben nicht einen Apfelstrudel.
We don’t have an apple strudel.
→ Don’t use this as a translation of “We don’t have any apple strudel”!
✅Wir haben keinen Apfelstrudel.
We have no apple strudel. / We don’t have any apple strudel.
→ Use this instead!
Where to put ‘kein’ in a sentence?
Last but not least, let’s go over some other negative words and phrases you can use in German!
niemals / nie(never) → used interchangeably
Paul hat noch nie Austern gegessen.
Paul has never eaten oysters before.
Niemals zuvor hat Paul Austern gegessen.
Never ever has Paul eaten oysters.
nirgends / nirgendwo(anywhere, nowhere) → used interchangeably
Bleib hier, du gehst nirgendwohin!
Stay here, you are not going anywhere!
niemand(nobody, not anybody) and keiner(no one, not anyone)
'niemand':
Ich habe niemand(en) gesehen.
Ich habe mich mit niemand(em) getroffen.
'keiner':
Keiner von euch kam zu meiner Party.
Neither of you came to my party.
lit. Nobody of you came to my party.
Niemand and keiner both have forms that change to reflect case:
Niemand has separate forms for every case, but it’s not uncommon for the nominative form to be used in all cases but the genitive:
Keiner always uses the accusative and dative forms where appropriate:
In written German, niemand is used more than keiner. But in colloquial German, keiner is often preferred. Both words are singular words and therefore do not have plural forms.
nichts(nothing)
Ich habe heute nichts gefrühstückt.
I didn’t have anything for breakfast today. (literal: nothing)
ohne(without)
Ohne dich schlaf’ ich heut’ Nacht nicht ein.
Without you I can’t fall asleep tonight.
Natürlich kann man ohne Kaffee leben, es lohnt sich nur nicht.
Of course you can live without coffee, but it’s not worth it.
nicht (nur)..., sondern (auch)(not (only)... but (also))
Ich habe nicht nur Hunger, sondern auch Durst.
Not only am I hungry, but I’m also thirsty.
lit. I have not only hunger but also thirst.
noch nicht(not yet)
Ich habe noch nicht gefrühstückt.
I haven’t had breakfast yet.
weder... noch(neither... nor)
Ich habe weder gefrühstückt noch zu Mittag gegessen.
I neither had breakfast nor lunch.
nein(no): the negative answer to a general yes/no question
Speaker A:Do you have apple strudel?
Speaker B:Nein, wir haben keinen (Apfelstrudel).
No, we don’t have any apple strudel.
There are many different ways to say nein in spoken German. You will likely stumble upon varieties like:
While nein is certainly the standard, German speakers often prefer one of these alternatives.
How to use the negative intensifiers ‘gar’ and ‘überhaupt’ in German?
In German, you can use the negative intensifiers gar or überhaupt(at all) before a negative word to emphasize or intensify your negation. You can use just one intensifier, or you can use both, in the sequence überhaupt gar.
However, you can only use these negative intensifiers with the following negative words:
kein
negative intensifiernegative word
Ich habe gar keinen Hunger.
Ich habe überhaupt keinen Hunger.
Ich habe überhaupt gar keinen Hunger.
I am not hungry at all.
lit. I have no hunger at all.
keiner / niemand
negative intensifiernegative word
Ich habe gar niemand(en) gesehen.
Ich habe überhaupt niemand(en) gesehen.
Ich habe überhaupt gar niemand(en) gesehen.
nicht
negative intensifiernegative word
Ich habe gar nicht mit deinem Anruf gerechnet.
Ich habe überhaupt nicht mit deinem Anruf gerechnet.
Ich habe überhaupt gar nicht mit deinem Anruf gerechnet.
I did not expect your call at all.
nichts
negative intensifiernegative word
Ich habe gar nichts gemacht!
Ich habe überhaupt nichts gemacht!
Ich habe überhaupt gar nichts gemacht!
I did not do anything at all!
Summary
In this article we discussed how and when to use different negative words in German, including…
Nicht(not) → used to negate adjectives, adverbs, verbs, pronouns, and nouns with definite articles. Use it:
after a verb and its objects
before other negated elements
Kein(no, not any) → a negative indefinite article, it is used before an indefinite noun
It is . Use the mnemonic _E_E – NE_E – MRMN – SRSR to remember the endings.
Other words like…
nirgendwohin / nirgendwoher
nicht (nur)..., sondern (auch)
You can intensify kein, niemand, keiner, nicht and nichts by adding gar or überhaupt or both.
Ready to practice? Check out our activities on German negative words! Happy learning!
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