NEGATIVES

What is a negative?
A negative question or statement is one which contains a word such as not, never or nothing and is used to say that something is not happening, is not true or is absent.

Using negatives

In English we use words like not, no, nothing and never to show a negative.

I’m not very pleased.

Dan never rang me.

Nothing ever happens here!

There’s no milk left.

In German, if you want to make something negative, you generally add nicht (meaning not) or nie (meaning never) next to the phrase or word referred to.

Ich will nicht mitgehen. I don’t want to come.
Sie fährt nie mit ans Meer. She never comes with us to the seaside.

Here is a list of the other common German negatives:

Nein, ich habe keine Zeit. No, I don’t have any time.
Sie hat nichts damit zu tun. She has nothing to do with it.
Ich rauche nicht mehr. I don’t smoke any more/ I no longer smoke.
Sie geht nicht mehr hin. She doesn’t go any more.

Note that nicht and mehr always appear next to each other.

kein        none

Keiner meiner Freunde wollte kommen. None of my friends wanted to come.
Wo ist die Milch? – Es ist keine mehr da. Where is the milk? – There is none left.

Tip

Nicht applies to verbs. Remember that when you want to make a negative statement about a noun, you must use kein. If you want to say I don’t drink milk any more, you would say Ich trinke keine Milch mehr.

For more information on the Indefinite article in negative sentences and on Indefinite pronouns, see pages 36 and 82.

Es war niemand im Büro. There was nobody in the office.

For more information on Indefinite pronouns, see page 82.

Nirgends sonst gibt es so schöne Blumen. Nowhere else will you find such beautiful flowers.
Hier gibts nirgendwo ein Schwimmbad. There isn’t a swimming pool anywhere here.
Karotten oder Erbsen? – Carrots or peas? –
Weder noch, danke. Neither, thanks.
Weder Sabina noch Oliver kommen zur Party. Neither Sabina nor Oliver are coming to the party.

For more information on Coordinating conjunctions with two parts, see page 170.

Ich mag ihn nicht. – Ich auch nicht! I don’t like him. – Neither do I!
Er war noch nie in Spanien. – He’s never been to Spain. –
Sie auch nicht! Neither has she!

Word order with negatives

In a sentence with only one verb part, such as the present tense, nicht and nie usually come directly after the verb. However, in direct questions, the negative word comes after the subject.

Du arbeitest nicht. You’re not working.
BUT  
Arbeitest du nicht? Aren’t you working?

In a sentence with two verb parts, such as the perfect tense and the passive, haben, sein or werden come after the subject and the negative word usually comes directly before the past participle or infinitive. The position of the negative doesn’t change in direct questions.

Sie haben es nicht gemacht. You haven’t done it.
Haben Sie es nicht gemacht? Haven’t you done it?

You can change the emphasis in a sentence by moving the position of the negative. For example, nie can be placed at the start of the sentence. The subject and verb then swap positions.

Nie waren sie glücklicher gewesen. They had never been happier.
Nie im Leben hatte er so etwas gesehen. Never in his life had he seen such a thing.

nicht comes at the end of a negative imperative, except if the verb is separable, in which case it comes before the separable prefix.

Iss das nicht! Don’t eat that!
Setzen Sie sich nicht! Don’t sit down!
BUT  
Geh nicht weg! Don’t go away!

nicht + the indefinite article ein is usually replaced by forms of kein.

Gibt es keine Plätzchen? Aren’t there any biscuits?
Kein einziger Student hatte die Arbeit gemacht. Not a single student had done the work.

For more information on the Indefinite article, see page 35.

To contradict a negative statement, doch is used instead of ja, to mean yes.

Du kommst nicht mit. – Doch, ich komme mit. You’re not coming. – Yes I am.
Das ist nicht wahr. – Doch! That isn’t true! – Yes it is!

nicht … sondern (meaning not … but) is used to correct a wrong idea or false impression.

Nicht Susi, sondern ihr Bruder war es. It wasn’t Susi, it was her brother.

Key points

A statement is usually made negative by adding nicht (meaning not) or nie (meaning never).

The most common German negatives are: nicht, nein, nie, nichts, nicht mehr, kein, niemand, nirgends or nirgendwo, weder noch, weder … noch and … auch nicht.

Nicht comes at the end of a negative imperative, except if the verb is separable, in which case it comes before the separable prefix.

Nicht + the indefinite article ein is usually replaced by forms of kein.

To contradict a negative statement, doch is used instead of ja, to mean yes.

Nicht … sondern (meaning not … but) is used to correct a wrong idea or false impression.