| 12.4.2 Negation of transitive verbs |
Now that we have differentiated between transitive and intransitive verbs and have discussed the intransitive ones there must be something about the transitives ones. Yes, you're right, there is. Actually we have to divide the transitive verbs into two different cases:
The direct object following the transitive verbs is something concrete well defined, then the negation is formed with nicht.
| Ich
kaufe den Stuhl nicht.
= I do not
buy the chair. Du liest das Buch nicht. = You do not read the book. Er isst den Kuchen nicht. = He does not eat the cake. |
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Is the direct object not-concrete,
not well defined then the negation is formed with kein.
It is quite simple to find out, whether it is kein or nicht. You see the
English phrases don't use the definite article anymore,
nor do the Germans. And this is a very important rule:
There are no articles with
kein/e/er.
| Ich
lese keine
Bücher = I do not
read books. Ich esse keine Miesmuscheln. = I do not eat mussels. Wir sahen keinen See. = We did not see any lake. |
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In English you could always try to use any
in the negated sentence, because if you can use
any then the German
negation is definitely with kein.
| Ich
lese keine
Bücher = I do not
read books. (I don't read any books.) Ich kaufe mir keine Schuhe = I do not buy shoes. (I don't buy any shoes.) |
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The rule about the articles can be reversed in the
way that it is absolutely correct to say: If the German
positive sentence uses an indefinite or no article the
German negation is with kein.
Kein is also used, if before
the noun is put andere / anderen (others).
there are = es gibt, whole
= ganz (here it's ganzen
because it's a direct object, which is discussed more
in detail in declension
of the adjectives)
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Es gibt keine
Kartoffeln in der ganzen Stadt. = There
are no potatoes
in the whole town. Wir haben keine Kartoffel. = We do not have a potatoe. Wir sehen keinen See. = We do not see (any) lake. Ich will kein Buch. = I do not want (any) book. Ich will kein anderes Auto. = I do not want another car. |
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once more the negatio with nicht
| wollen
= to want |
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| Ich
will dieses Buch nicht.
= I do not
want this book. Wir wollen ihn nicht sehen. = We do not want to see him. Du mußt ihn nicht kaufen. = You do not have to buy it. Er will den Schrank nicht. = He does not want the closet. |
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