Negation
How I started learning basic German in my 40s
Learning how to negate was not simple.
The most common words used to negate are “kein” (and all variations thereof) and “nicht.”
However, that is not all. I also needed to learn how to use the words “nein,” “nie,” “niemand,” “niemals,” “ohne,” and others.
Nicht
The first thing I did was to analyze the sentences I had come across that contained this word, and then I tried to rewrite a few of the sentences I had come across on the internet and a few magazines in order to practice where to place “nicht.”
For example:
When I analyze this sentence I notice that “nicht” is placed after the verb “fällt.”
Another one:
In this sentence, the word “nicht” is placed before the relative pronoun “was” (what, which, that).
Yet another:
In this sentence, the word “nicht” is placed after the personal pronoun “es.”
Next one:
In this sentence the word “nicht” is placed before the main verb. My colleague went on to tell me that if you have two verbs, for example a “modalverb” and a “hauptverb,” the word “nicht” is placed before the main verb. In this case “arbeiten” is the main verb.
Finally:
In this sentence, the word “nicht” is placed before the verb “hat.”
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As I did not have enough information to detect a pattern, I took to the internet.
“Nicht” is used to negate verbs.
It is placed in front of the element you want to negate.
Sometimes it is used at the end of a sentence such as:
“Nicht” negates everything that comes before it.
If there are two important elements such as “trinken” (to drink) and “rauchen” (to smoke), and if we want to negate the two, we need to place one “nicht” after “trinken” and another one after “rauchen.”
Another example:
“Nicht” negates the whole sentence. It has been explained to me that the most important element of the sentence goes at the end. If “nicht” is placed at the end, it negates everything that comes before it.
Here is a different example:
In this case “nicht” goes between the verb and the adjective “freundlich.” For some reason “nicht” is not put at the end.
Another example:
In this case “nicht” goes before the adverb “oft,” but if we substitute “heute” for “oft” this is the way it should be written:
“Nicht” can be placed before “oft,” but it cannot be placed in front of “heute” despite the fact both are adverbs.
Then I learned that “nicht” is placed before prepositions. “Ins” is a contraction: “in” and “das.” “In” is a preposition.
I had to find out more.
I decided I needed to find out more about how to use this word.
