Nicht vs. KeinWhat's the difference?

What's the difference between nicht & kein?

The difference between nicht & kein in German is very easy to understand: Nicht is used with verbs, while kein is only used with nouns. In this sense, nicht can be translated as "not", while kein can be roughly translated as "no" or "none".

Let's have a look at an example:

Schlechte Neuigkeiten! Ich kann nicht mit dir nach Barcelona fliegen.

Bad news! I can't fly to Barcelona with you.

Was? Hast du den Flug denn nicht gebucht?

What? Didn't you book the flight?

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Here, nicht applies to the verb fliegen: Peter cannot fly to Barcelona. And Sarah uses "nicht" to negate the verb haben or, more specifically, gebucht haben.

Let's see how their conversation continues:

Nein, ich hatte letzte Woche kein Geld!

No, I didn't have money last week!

Und diese Woche?

And this week?

Diese Woche habe ich Geld, aber die Flüge sind teurer geworden. Ich konnte einfach keinen günstigen Flug finden.

I have money this week, but the flights have become more expensive. I just couldn't find an affordable flight.

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Peter did not have any money to book the flight last week, and this week wasn't able to find any cheap flights. So he says:

...and:

As you can see, the word kein is here used with the nouns Geld and Flug. It also changes depending on the case of the noun (e.g. keinen Flug) - the word nicht does not.

And that, in a nutshell, is the difference between the German words kein & nicht 😊.

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