German kein: Negation with kein, keine, keinen Explained

German kein is the negative counterpart of the indefinite article ein — the word you reach for to negate a noun. Whenever a positive sentence would use ein, eine, or no article at all, the negative version uses kein: Ich habe ein Auto → Ich habe kein Auto (I don't have a car).

The good news is that kein is not a new declension to memorize. It takes the exact same endings as ein, plus one bonus: kein has plural forms (keine Kinder) where ein has none. Learn one pattern, get both — and you only need to keep two rules in mind: pick the right ending for gender and case, and know when to use kein vs nicht.

Both of those rules are easiest to fix by doing: the free exercises lower down let you practise kein, keine, and keinen here with no sign-up, marking every answer instantly so the endings stick.

German kein at a glance: declension cheat-sheet

At A1 only nominative and accusative are active vocabulary. Notice that only the masculine accusative changes (kein → keinen) — every other nom/akk cell is identical to its nominative form. That single -en ending is the most common kein mistake learners make either direction.

What is kein in German?

Kein is the negative indefinite article. It means no, not a, or not any, and it attaches to a noun the same way ein does:

• Ich habe einen Hund. → Ich habe keinen Hund. — I have no dog.
• Das ist ein Problem. → Das ist kein Problem. — That's no problem.
• Ich trinke Kaffee. → Ich trinke keinen Kaffee. — I don't drink coffee.

The last example shows the second job of kein: it also negates bare nouns (nouns with no article in the positive sentence). German doesn't say nicht Kaffee; it says keinen Kaffee. That single fact resolves the majority of kein-vs-nicht confusion at A1, and it's the rule we'll come back to in the next section.

Because kein declines by gender and case, getting it right depends on knowing the noun's gender and the case the verb or preposition assigns. If you're shaky on der/die/das, fix that first — kein only echoes the same pattern.

kein vs nicht: which negation do you use?

This is the single most-asked question about German negation, and the answer is almost mechanical. Look at what the positive sentence has in front of the noun:

Two practical takeaways:

1. If the noun would have an indefinite article or no article, use kein. This covers most A1 sentences with negation.
2. Nicht negates everything else — verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns that already have a definite article or possessive in front of them.

Read more on the broader article system in German articles; the same gender table that drives der/die/das drives kein.

Kein in the nominative case

The nominative is used for the subject of a clause and after the linking verbs sein (to be), werden (to become), and bleiben (to remain).

Das ist kein Fehler. — That is not a mistake.

The plural row is the new information compared to ein — ein has no plural form, but kein does. Das sind keine Kinder (Those aren't children) is the negative of Das sind Kinder, a bare-plural noun phrase.

Kein in the accusative case

The accusative marks the direct object — the person or thing the action lands on. It's also the case after accusative prepositions like durch, für, gegen, ohne, um and after the fixed phrase es gibt.

Ich habe keinen Bruder. — I have no brother.

Only masculine changes between nominative and accusative: kein → keinen. Feminine, neuter, and plural stay put. This mirrors ein → einen exactly — if you already know einen Hund, you already know keinen Hund.

es gibt always takes accusative

The fixed phrase es gibt (there is / there are) is the most common accusative trigger at A1 and a frequent kein context:

• Es gibt keinen Parkplatz. — There is no parking space.
• Es gibt keine Milch. — There is no milk.
• Es gibt kein Brot. — There is no bread.
• Es gibt keine Tickets mehr. — There are no tickets left.

The predicate-noun trap after sein

Sein looks transitive in English (That is no doctor), so learners reach for the accusative — but in German, sein takes a nominative complement, not an object:

• Das ist kein Arzt. — correct (nominative)
• Das ist keinen Arzt. — wrong

Same with werden and bleiben: Er wird kein Lehrer, Sie bleibt keine Schülerin.

Kein, mein, dein: the same declension family

Kein belongs to the ein-words group — articles and possessives that all take ein's endings. That means once you have kein down, you also have:

• mein (my), dein (your), sein (his / its), ihr (her / their), unser (our), euer (your-pl), Ihr (your-formal)

All of them decline identically: mein Bruder, meinen Bruder, meine Schwester, mein Kind, meine Kinder. See German possessives for the parallel chart.

So when you practice keinen Hund, you're also practicing meinen Hund, deinen Hund, seinen Hund. The system is cheaper to learn than it looks.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

These are the kein errors learners make most often, with the fix in each case.

The shortcut to remember: kein is just ein with a k. If you wouldn't say einen Mann, don't say keinen Mann. If the positive doesn't have ein or no article at all, you probably want nicht.

When to use kein vs nicht: a 10-second decision tree

Use this when you're mid-sentence and unsure:

1. Am I negating a noun? No → use nicht. Yes → step 2.
2. Does the positive version have ein/eine/einen or no article? No (it has der/die/das or a possessive) → use nicht. Yes → step 3.
3. Use kein. Pick the ending from the quick-reference table by gender (and plural) and case.

That's the whole rule. Everything else — adjectives, verbs, adverbs, definite nouns — falls to nicht.