Negation and order of words
Sometimes, I don't understand the use of the negation in German.
For example here: "Hans kann die Rechnung nicht bezahlen". I have a name so I thought I could use "kein". If I write "Hans kann keine Rechnung bezahlen", what does it mean, instead?
Another question. Is "Hans kann die Rechnung nicht bezahlen" the same as "Hans kann nicht die Rechnung bezahlen"?
Danke schön.
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Answers · 6
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"Hans kann die Rechnung nicht bezahlen." = "Hans kann nicht die Rechnung bezahlen." = "Die Rechnung kann Hans nicht bezahlen." = "Nicht bezahlen kann Hans die Rechnung."
There are always several ways to put words into a correct order, however some do sound more unusual than others to the "German ear". All of the above variants say that Hans cannot pay the bill, so beforehand, it should be explained what particular bill the statement refers to.
In contrast to "the bill" <=> "die Rechnung", "keine Rechnung" means "no bill", thus "Hans kann keine Rechnung bezahlen." means "Hans can pay no bill."/"Hans cannot pay any bill.". So "keine" most often corresponds to the English "not ... any", otherwise to "no" or "none"! And if Hans cannot pay any bill, he's broke ... . However, if he only has difficulties paying one particular bill, he may still be paying his other bills.
An example for "keine" <=> "none":
Hast Du Erdnüsse? - Warum? - Ich habe nämlich keine, und möchte welche essen!
Do you have any peanuts? - Why? - Because I have none, yet I'd like to eat some!
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Danke Dirk!!! :)
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See entry.
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