When do you use nicht?

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acryllic
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Joined:2013-05-23, 13:39
When do you use nicht?

Postby acryllic » 2013-05-28, 3:14

I'm a beginner in German, and I don't quite understand when to use "nicht."

I understand that "nicht" is the negation for verbs and adjectives, while "kein" is for nouns.

Roughly translated to English, I would say that nicht = not, while kein = no.

So, one could say, "Ich bin nicht traurig," and "Ich bin keine Ärztin."

But how would one use "nicht" in a sentence with more than one verb. I was told that if there were two verbs, you would negate the second verb.
So one would say, "Ich kann das nicht verstanden," instead of "Ich kann nicht das verstanden."

But how would you use "nicht" in a sentence with more than two verbs?

And what about sentences like "I cannot play football." Would you say, "Ich kann nicht Fußball spielen," or "Ich kann Fußball nicht spielen"?

And does one use "nicht" or "kein" in sentences like "I am not Barack Obama"?

Vielen Dank für eure Hilfe. :D
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." - Romans 1:16 (NIV)

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Re: When do you use nicht?

Postby kevin » 2013-05-28, 8:42

acryllic wrote:But how would one use "nicht" in a sentence with more than one verb. I was told that if there were two verbs, you would negate the second verb.
So one would say, "Ich kann das nicht verstanden verstehen," instead of "Ich kann nicht das verstehen verstanden."

But how would you use "nicht" in a sentence with more than two verbs?

Generally I think still before the second one. In main clauses you have one finite verb at the beginning and then the rest of the verbs at the end of the sentence. It usually comes before all of these: "Ich habe das nicht verstehen können."

With dependent clauses, where the finite verb moves to the end, it's again before this accumulation of verbs at the end, but now this happens to be before the first verb: "Ich weiß. dass ich das nicht verstehen können habe."

And what about sentences like "I cannot play football." Would you say, "Ich kann nicht Fußball spielen," or "Ich kann Fußball nicht spielen"?

The former is the neutral and more common way, the latter stresses "Fußball", as in: "Ich kann Fußball nicht spielen, aber Volleyball sehr wohl." (You also need to use the latter in the unlikely case that you want to say "Not playing football is something that I can do" ;))

And does one use "nicht" or "kein" in sentences like "I am not Barack Obama"?

It depends. The negation of "Ich bin Barack Obama" uses "nicht" and is about whether you are exactly this person. But the negation of "Ich bin ein Barack Obama" uses "kein" (I guess in English you could say "I am not a Barack Obama") and then you're merely comparing to him.

acryllic
Posts:30
Joined:2013-05-23, 13:39

Re: When do you use nicht?

Postby acryllic » 2013-06-03, 4:57

I think I understand it now. Thank you. :D
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." - Romans 1:16 (NIV)


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