Hello everyone,
and welcome a new episode of our mini e-course on how to awaken the potential within you and create the dream life you’ve always wanted to dream of but never dared dreaming for this world crushes dreams like it wants to make a dream Mojito. And today, we’ll practice one of the most important skills ever… saying NO!
No, I am not going to stay longer at the office. No, I do not enjoy watching Rom Coms. Fuck no, we do not have almond milk.
And no bro, I do not want not another beer.
Okay, seriously… of course this is not a life improvement blog. It’s a German improvement blog.
But we will practice to say “no”, because today we’ll have the third part of our mini series on
The Amazing Positions of nicht
Hoooooray!
In the first two parts, we’ve learned the theory and if you haven’t read them you should really check them out first.
“But Emanuel, we’ve had a chapter on that in our textbook, so I think I know the theor…”
Shush… you do not! Seriously, textbooks and courses have a really weird approach to the topic.
“But Emanuel, can I just try the exercise and see how it goes?”
Hmm… yeah, I guess you can do that. But for all those of you who want to check out my crazy, mind blowing explanations, here are the links:
The position of “nicht” 1 – One rule is enough, as long as you make crazy assumptions
The position of “nicht” 2 – Not what you’d expect a grammar explanation to be
Today, we’ll practice what we’ve learned, so let’s jump right in :)
Here’s what we’ll do:
I will give you 42 (reference alert) sentences that you have to negate in German by putting nicht somewhere (so no kein or nie or something).
Originally, I wanted to give you English sentences to translate but I soon found that for common stuff the phrasing is sometimes completely different in German. So I decided to also give you the non-negated version in German. So the English gives you the idea you want to express and the German sentence gives you a model where you just have to insert nicht somewhere.
Here’s how it looks:
- I am not eating my soup. <- the sentence to say in German
Ich esse meine Suppe. <- the non-negated version in German, mainly for structure
Ich esse meine Suppe nicht. <- you’re doing this
With the exception of one or two or three examples, they all don’t have the negation focus on one particular element, so what you basically need to do is to put nicht into the neutral position, where it doesn’t create tension. If you don’t know what that is and how to find it… check out my explanations first ;).
We can then in the comments talk about what would happen if we move nicht around in a particular sentence, if you’re interested.
Oh and note that sometimes, there’s more than one correct answer. So more than one placement of nicht sounds neutral. So if your answer is not the same as mine but you don’t understand why… it might be correct as well, so just ask about it in the comments.
Remember… the main goal of this exercise is NOT that you get everything correctly. The main goal is to see where and why you fail and to confront you with certain situations that are tricky so we can clear it all up.
The solutions are as always in the audio and you can show them by tapping the button.
Also… viel Spaß :)
Work Out – Position of “nicht”
1. I don’t understand that.
Ich verstehe das.
Ich verstehe das nicht .2. Promise me, that you won’t drink my beer!
Versprich mir, dass du mein Bier trinkst.
Versprich mir, dass du nicht mein Bier trinkst. (Versprich mir, dass du mein Bier nicht trinkst.) 3.He doesn’t want to do that.
Er will das machen.
Er will das nicht machen.4.I don’t like your new hair do.
Deine neue Frisur gefällt mir.
Deine neue Frisur gefällt mir nicht . 5.The wine is not tasty to me.
Der Wein schmeckt mir.
Der Wein schmeckt mir nicht . 6.Maria is not going there today.
Maria geht heute dort hin.
Maria geht heute nicht dort hin. (Maria geht heute dort nicht hin.)7.I wasn’t prepared for that.
Ich war darauf vorbereitet.
Ich war nicht darauf vorbereitet. (Ich war darauf nicht vorbereitet.) 8.The website doesn’t show the price.
Die Webseite zeigt den Preis.
Die Webseite zeigt den Preis nicht .9.I don’t want to go home.
Ich will nach Hause gehen.
Ich will nicht nach Hause gehen.10.I don’t like Instagram models.
Ich mag Instagram-Models.
Ich mag Instagram-Models nicht . 11.I didn’t think of it for long.
Ich habe lange daran gedacht.
Ich habe nicht lange daran gedacht.12.It’s been a long time I haven’t thought of it.
Ich habe lange daran gedacht.
Ich habe lange nicht daran gedacht.13.Maria wants to learn not to be nervous before exams.
Maria will lernen, vor Prüfungen nervös zu sein.
Maria will lernen, vor Prüfungen nicht nervös zu sein.14.I don’t have to be at work on time.
Ich muss pünktlich auf Arbeit sein.
Ich muss nicht pünktlich auf Arbeit sein.15.I tried not to wake you up.
Ich habe versucht, dich zu wecken.
Ich habe versucht, dich nicht zu wecken.16.I didn’t try to wake you.
Ich habe versucht, dich zu wecken.
Ich habe nicht versucht, dich zu wecken. 17.I didn’t try not to drink your beer.
Ich habe versucht, dein Bier zu trinken.
Ich habe nicht versucht, dein Bier nicht zu trinken.18.The aliens haven’t returned from the toilet.
Die Außerirdischen sind von der Toilette zurückgekommen.
Die Außerirdischen sind nicht von der Toilette zurückgekommen. (Die Außerirdischen sind von der Toilette nicht zurückgekommen.)19.I didn’t put the book on the table.
Ich habe das Buch auf den Tisch gelegt.
Ich habe das Buch nicht auf den Tisch gelegt.20.Niki is not going to university today.
Niki geht heute zur Uni.
Niki geht heute nicht zur Uni. 21.I don’t get angry over those things.
Ich ärgere mich über solche Sachen.
Ich ärgere mich über solche Sachen nicht . *** half time :) ***22.I won’t eat your cake, I promise.
Ich werde deinen Kuchen essen, versprochen.
Ich werde deinen Kuchen nicht essen, versprochen.23.I didn’t drink your stupid craft IPA.
Ich habe dein blödes craft IPA getrunken.
Ich habe dein blödes craft IPA nicht getrunken.24.Maria doesn’t tell this story to her brother.
Maria erzählt diese Geschichte ihrem Bruder.
Maria erzählt diese Geschichte nicht ihrem Bruder.25.I couldn’t wait for the bus for an hour.
Ich konnte eine Stunde auf den Bus warten.
Ich konnte nicht eine Stunde auf den Bus warten.26.She didn’t mention it yesterday.
Sie hat es gestern erwähnt.
Sie hat es gestern nicht erwähnt.27.Babies are not being brought by the stork.
Babys werden vom Storch gebracht.
Babys werde nicht vom Storch gebracht.28.That doesn’t take longer than an hour.
Das dauert länger als eine Stunde.
Das dauert nicht länger als eine Stunde. 29.I’m not especially interested in opera.
Ich bin besonders an Oper interessiert.
Ich bin nicht besonders an Oper interessiert.30.Excuse me, this wine is not red enough.
Entschuldigung, dieser Wein ist rot genug.
Entschuldigung, dieser Wein ist nicht rot genug.31.I don’t ask the sales person for the price.
Ich frage den Verkäufer nach dem Preis.
Ich frage den Verkäufer nicht nach dem Preis.32.Because of the meeting I don’t have to go to work before half past 11.
Ich muss wegen dem Meeting vor halb 12 zur Arbeit gehen.
Ich muss wegen dem Meeting nicht vor halb zwölf zur Arbeit gehen.33.The Duohorn wasn’t at the dentist’s office yesterday.
Das Duohorn war gestern beim Zahnarzt.
Das Zweihorn war gestern nicht beim Zahnarzt.34.Surprisingly, I wasn’t bored during the TedTalk.
Überraschenderweise war ich während des TedTalks gelangweilt.
Überraschenderweise war ich während des TedTalks nicht gelangweilt. 35.I knew that that doesn’t take three days.
Ich wusste, dass das drei Tage dauert.
Ich wusste, dass das nicht drei Tage dauert.36.I couldn’t sleep for an hour because of the noise.
Ich konnte wegen dem Geräusch eine Stunde schlafen.
Ich konnte wegen dem Geräusch eine Stunde nicht schlafen.37.Because of the singing, I didn’t like the opera.
Die Oper hat mir wegen dem Gesang gefallen.
Die Oper hat mir wegen dem Gesang nicht gefallen.38.It’s not because of the singing that I liked the opera.
Die Oper hat mir wegen dem Gesang gefallen.
Die Oper hat mir nicht wegen dem Gesang gefallen.39.Thomas doesn’t go on Facebook during work. (yeah right)
Thomas geht während der Arbeit auf Facebook.
Thomas geht während der Arbeit nicht auf Facebook. 40.After a month, I still can’t remember (memorize) the names of my co-workers.
Nach einem Monat kann ich mir immer noch die Namen meiner Kollegen merken.
Nach einem Monat kann ich mir immer noch nicht die Namen meiner Kollegen merken. 41.Wow, the boss doesn’t sleep during the meeting for once.
Wow, der Chef schläft ausnahmsweise während des Meetings.
Der Chef schläft ausnahmsweise während des Meetings nicht .42.I had to really concentrate to not accidentally tell Thomas about the surprise party.
Ich musste mich richtig konzentrieren, um Thomas aus Versehen etwas von der Überraschungsparty zu erzählen.
Ich musste mich richtig konzentrieren, um Thomas nicht aus Versehen etwas von der Überraschungsparty zu erzählen.
Ich verstehe das.
Ich verstehe das nicht .
Versprich mir, dass du mein Bier trinkst.
Versprich mir, dass du nicht mein Bier trinkst. (Versprich mir, dass du mein Bier nicht trinkst.)
Er will das machen.
Er will das nicht machen.
Deine neue Frisur gefällt mir.
Deine neue Frisur gefällt mir nicht .
Der Wein schmeckt mir.
Der Wein schmeckt mir nicht .
Maria geht heute dort hin.
Maria geht heute nicht dort hin. (Maria geht heute dort nicht hin.)
Ich war darauf vorbereitet.
Ich war nicht darauf vorbereitet. (Ich war darauf nicht vorbereitet.)
Die Webseite zeigt den Preis.
Die Webseite zeigt den Preis nicht .
Ich will nach Hause gehen.
Ich will nicht nach Hause gehen.
Ich mag Instagram-Models.
Ich mag Instagram-Models nicht .
Ich habe lange daran gedacht.
Ich habe nicht lange daran gedacht.
Ich habe lange daran gedacht.
Ich habe lange nicht daran gedacht.
Maria will lernen, vor Prüfungen nervös zu sein.
Maria will lernen, vor Prüfungen nicht nervös zu sein.
Ich muss pünktlich auf Arbeit sein.
Ich muss nicht pünktlich auf Arbeit sein.
Ich habe versucht, dich zu wecken.
Ich habe versucht, dich nicht zu wecken.
Ich habe versucht, dich zu wecken.
Ich habe nicht versucht, dich zu wecken.
Ich habe versucht, dein Bier zu trinken.
Ich habe nicht versucht, dein Bier nicht zu trinken.
Die Außerirdischen sind von der Toilette zurückgekommen.
Die Außerirdischen sind nicht von der Toilette zurückgekommen. (Die Außerirdischen sind von der Toilette nicht zurückgekommen.)
Ich habe das Buch auf den Tisch gelegt.
Ich habe das Buch nicht auf den Tisch gelegt.
Niki geht heute zur Uni.
Niki geht heute nicht zur Uni.
Ich ärgere mich über solche Sachen.
Ich ärgere mich über solche Sachen nicht .
Ich werde deinen Kuchen essen, versprochen.
Ich werde deinen Kuchen nicht essen, versprochen.
Ich habe dein blödes craft IPA getrunken.
Ich habe dein blödes craft IPA nicht getrunken.
Maria erzählt diese Geschichte ihrem Bruder.
Maria erzählt diese Geschichte nicht ihrem Bruder.
Ich konnte eine Stunde auf den Bus warten.
Ich konnte nicht eine Stunde auf den Bus warten.
Sie hat es gestern erwähnt.
Sie hat es gestern nicht erwähnt.
Babys werden vom Storch gebracht.
Babys werde nicht vom Storch gebracht.
Das dauert länger als eine Stunde.
Das dauert nicht länger als eine Stunde.
Ich bin besonders an Oper interessiert.
Ich bin nicht besonders an Oper interessiert.
Entschuldigung, dieser Wein ist rot genug.
Entschuldigung, dieser Wein ist nicht rot genug.
Ich frage den Verkäufer nach dem Preis.
Ich frage den Verkäufer nicht nach dem Preis.
Ich muss wegen dem Meeting vor halb 12 zur Arbeit gehen.
Ich muss wegen dem Meeting nicht vor halb zwölf zur Arbeit gehen.
Das Duohorn war gestern beim Zahnarzt.
Das Zweihorn war gestern nicht beim Zahnarzt.
Überraschenderweise war ich während des TedTalks gelangweilt.
Überraschenderweise war ich während des TedTalks nicht gelangweilt.
Ich wusste, dass das drei Tage dauert.
Ich wusste, dass das nicht drei Tage dauert.
Ich konnte wegen dem Geräusch eine Stunde schlafen.
Ich konnte wegen dem Geräusch eine Stunde nicht schlafen.
Die Oper hat mir wegen dem Gesang gefallen.
Die Oper hat mir wegen dem Gesang nicht gefallen.
Die Oper hat mir wegen dem Gesang gefallen.
Die Oper hat mir nicht wegen dem Gesang gefallen.
Thomas geht während der Arbeit auf Facebook.
Thomas geht während der Arbeit nicht auf Facebook.
Nach einem Monat kann ich mir immer noch die Namen meiner Kollegen merken.
Nach einem Monat kann ich mir immer noch nicht die Namen meiner Kollegen merken.
Wow, der Chef schläft ausnahmsweise während des Meetings.
Der Chef schläft ausnahmsweise während des Meetings nicht .
Ich musste mich richtig konzentrieren, um Thomas aus Versehen etwas von der Überraschungsparty zu erzählen.
Ich musste mich richtig konzentrieren, um Thomas nicht aus Versehen etwas von der Überraschungsparty zu erzählen.
***
And? How’d you do? Was it difficult? How many did you get wrong? Do you have questions about any of the sentences?
Let me know all your feedback and questions in the comments.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
> Maria erzählt diese Geschichte nicht ihrem Bruder.
Why not “Maria erzählt diese Geschichte ihrem Bruder nicht”? Why Bruder is not part of the scenery?
Why german negation has to be so tough… in Russian you just put “nicht” (не) before the verb and that is it. Or before any element of the sentence you want to negate. No positioning, no scenery, no news, no coupling of verb with preposition… only chill.
I mean, you go all those cases and endings going on. That’s hard enough :)
Ваша правда :)
I don’t know how russian language learners deal with 8 or 9 or however cases we have. I don’t even remember the difference between them anymore. Verb-case combos must be insane.
It can be. The first version talks about who she’s telling the story to, your version talks about what she does with the story and her brother. The brother is already part of the conversation and the listener maybe wonders “does she tell the story to him”.
Oh, so the desired negation was specifically to negate the brother, meaning that she tells the story to somebody else maybe? I thought I needed to negate the sentence as a whole (neutral negation).
There is no implied contrast in the negation. It just says that she doesn’t tell the story to her brother.
Like… does she tell that story to her brother? No, she doesn’t do that.
If you want to signal that the brother is contrasted against something else, you’d need aural emphasis. The way it is, it’s just too “low tension” to create strong special focus.
This would have a lot more special focus on “ihm” because it’s in an unusual spot.
This stuff is all very gradual, blurry and to an extent subjective or dependent on how you say it.
These are all very similar and it’s hard to capture the difference in English because it’s “vibe” rather than actual message. They “feel” different but as soon as you try to verbalize that, it’s way too strong.
Like having “a hint of vanilla” in a drink vs having vanilla syrup in it.
What’s important is that you start developing a feel for the setup phase of a sentence vs the “and here’s what happened in the setup” phase.
“mit Maria” can be part of setup or part of news. Depends on the speaker and listener.
What am I not doing tomorrow?
What am I not doing with Maria tomorrow?
Danke
Es ist eine super Übung. danke!
Sie soll auf der Seite “work out “ stehen.
Tag Emanuel!
I did the exercise and got only half correct. So, I looked around some other places for some nicht placement and found some rules, which I know you don’t care for. But, they helped give me some guardrails.
-Nicht precedes prepositions, personal pronouns, proper nouns, and adverbs…I know that you could come up with a dozen examples to prove me wrong. :-) However, the rules I just referenced answered about half of my questions.
As you wrote in this article, I will do as you said and ask about specific questions. :-)
Could the following be correct:
11 & 12: Ich habe nicht lange…
13: Maria will lernen nicht vor…
16 & 17: …nicht zu trinken…
24: Maria erzahlt nicht diese…
25: Ich konnte nicht eine Stunde…
32: Ich muss nicht wegen…
35: I don’t even what to ask about this one. Is there anywhere else nicht could go besides after dass das?
36: Die Oper hat mir nicht wegen…
39: Thomas geht nicht wahrend…
42: …konzentrieren, nicht um Thomas aus…
I will apologize in advance for being a pest. :-) Pardon the lack of umlauts–I can’t get my Mac keyboard to cooperate right now, and I have limited time. :-)
I am relentless in my quest!
“I know that you could come up with a dozen examples to prove me wrong. :-) However, the rules I just referenced answered about half of my questions.”
Oh, that’s perfect, all power to you! That’s the way to go, honestly! Just because I don’t like the rules doesn’t mean to not use them. My goal is more to show that if someone doesn’t vibe with them, that’s OKAY. There is a reason why they may not resonate and I’m trying to offer an alternative approach.
The more tools the better, in my opinion, so I kind of skipped all the “mainstream (buzz buzz)” rules because I figured people would consult other sources anyway to compare. Unless my approach REALLY resonates, but then they don’t need the other rules anyway.
I know I’m a bit drastic in my bashing of the rules but that’s because I’m a little hater of the teaching establishment and I started this blog to do it differently :)
Anyways, on to your questions:
11+12)
Here, my intention was for the English sentences to mean different things. The first one is about the duration of thinking, the second is about the duration BETWEEN instances of thinking about it.
The non-negated german version (I realize that now) do NOT (and can not) reflect that.
First sentence: lange daran denken gets negated
Second sentence: daran denken gets negated and “lange” does NOT get negated, it measure how long the negated portion lasted. So here, the position really matters.
13)
Your idea would work and mean the same, it just sounds less smooth and could technically imply that she wants to be nervous before other things.
16/17)
Not sure what you mean here, the solution is “nicht zu trinken” so it’s the same as your suggestion
24)
“nicht diese Geschichte” .. this would be weird, because you’re including “this story” in the negation. You’d typically only do that if he told her ANOTHER story, but not THAT one.
As it is, the story is part of the scene. There is Maria and “this story” (was part of the conversation before, and now we find out what happened with the story. No reason to negate it.
Not sure if you know the terms theme and rheme, but if you do, those are basically the key. Negation comes before the rheme.
25)
Again your suggestion is the same as the solution
32)
your version negates the meeting as a reason, so you’d be saying that the meeting is NOT the reason why you HAVE To be at work before half past 11.
We want the meeting to be part of the scene. There’s a meeting, the meeting is the reason for something. For what -> insert the negated part.
35)
It can technically go between “dass” and “das” but then you#re specifically negating “das” as opposed to something else that took three days, which is not what the English sentence says.
36)
Absolutely not. If you say “nicht wegen dem Gesang gefallen”, you’re saying that you liked it, but the singing was not the reason for it.
There was singing at the opera, the singing is the reason fro something (wegen). For what? – Insert the negated part. The singing as a reason is part of the scene (theme).
39)
Putting “nicht” before “während” does kind of work, but it could be understood as having the focus on WHEN he goes on Facebook (NOT during work, BUT some other time), when in the original, the focus is what he does while at work (not going on facebook).
“During work” is part of the scene (theme), in which something (doesn’t) happen.
42)
The only time you will have “nicht” before such an “um” is if you want to negate the entire um-clause as opposed to another um-clause
– Ich gehe in die Küche nicht um mir ein Bier zu holen sondern um zu putzen.
This is clunky though and the nicht would move forward before “in die Küche”.
Hope that helps :)
Thank you so much, Emanuel. I always take screenshots of your answers to print and study them.
I get not liking all the rules. I think at this point in my life and career, I am leaning into the rules because I am teaching grammar to students. Also, I understand the English (most of them–not the 12 bloody tenses!) rules and know when I can and cannot ignore them. I appreciate your articles and this website so much. Thank you for your time! Du bist ein guter Typ. Sorry if that is wrong!
Du bist einen guten Typ…I’m not sure if the direct object is accusative because of the verb…
You are a good guy! :-)
If you have a sentence that’s like an equation “A is B”, both sides will be nominative, so “ein guter Typ” is correct :)!
I have a question.
11-I didn’t think of it for long.
Ich habe lange daran gedacht.
Ich habe nicht lange daran gedacht. (Answer)
why it can’t be -Ich habe lange nicht daran gedacht
or – Ich habe lange daran nicht gedacht.
I read other nicht position articles but still dont understand this one !
Oh sorry, I just realized it can be also-
Ich habe lange nicht daran gedacht.
My german bf said it looks awkward and it confused me more haha
Better not to ask him….
This is not awkward at all. Perfectly idiomatic phrasing.
This might be a problem with my English translation.
What I mean is that the time I spent thinking about it wasn’t long.
The action I am negating is “lange daran denken”
– Ich habe lange daran nicht gedacht.
– Ich habe lange nicht daran gedacht.
These mean that a long time went by in which I WASN’T thinking about it.
Like for instance me thinking about my ex for the first time after two years.
Let me know if that helps.
I suck so much it’s almost comical…just do not put it between verb and subject and you’re good.
That’s a good start, for sure.
If you have any questions or examples where you got it wrong but were sure you’re right, let me know. Maybe I can help clear up some misunderstandings.
Hi,
Thks for your time!
My main problem is to structure sentences.
I read your work on it and yet still no « déclic » that I can work with…every time I think I figured it out, it ended up being wrong.
My French mind (which think to much in English (I live in Hamburg since 2010.I know…)) is like German proof.
Anyway,thanks for your work,it’s clear and fun to come to!
I loved reading about the series, but couldn’t get all correct. Even after seeing the correct position of nicht in them I still do not get why they are there. I always tend to put it right before a verb haha
Maybe give me an example from the exercise and I can try to clear things up.
Also, what’s your mother tongue and are you thinking in your mothertongue while doing this or more English?
I was raised in a bilingual setting, one Turkic language and the other being of a Slavic origin. I don’t think much in any of them when learning German, to be honest, I just try to read a lot in German and develop an internal feeling for what’s right and wrong. Next times I see nicht when reading, I will pay attention to its place in a sentence.
The German sentences for 11 and 12 are the same.
No, they’re not ;).
The position of nicht is not the same.
A lot of work was put into this test. :)
I noticed you said in many cases various phrasings would still be correct, aka without odd tension, yet I would feel A L O T more comfortable if the answers could include the several possible positions of nicht, like the examples you used in the 2 previous parts of the mini series.
I understand the flexibility of German as you ELABORATELY explained it, but my “intuition” is yet to develop.
It’s still not my cup of tea, but I doooon’t think I hate German grammar, and that’s pretty awesome. Dankeschön Emanuel.
Not happening :). If I add more versions, people will ask for the differences and which is the “best”.
Just ask about the sentences you’re interested in in the comments :)
You’re VERY fleißig by the way!! Du lernst extrem viel!
The content is sehr INTERESSANT :D I love it.
I finished almost one third of grammar lessons and I’M ACTUALLY ENJOYING MYSELF.
I’m enjoying myself.. LEARNING GRAMMAR OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE THAT I’M A BEGINNER IN, do you know how rare that is? You do a really cool job.
I know I’m the student so it’s usually the other way around, and I’ve just been here for like a few days, BUT I’M REALLY SUPER DUPER PROUD OF YOU!! #WayToGoEmanuel
P.S. I’ll come back later for the sentences, I just had to broadcast my excited-ness about your stuff here.
Thanks a lot for such great feedback :)! It’s really really amazing to hear that someone gets excited by these articles. That’s the number one goal, after all.
Hi Emanuel, can we also say for Q8:
Die Webseite zeigt nicht den Preis nicht?
My thinking was that the price is also something important in the sentence thus we also have to negate it.
Thank you!
Did you mean to put in “nicht” twice?
“nicht” can be in either position. If before “den Preis”, then it sounds more like “Preis” is a new piece of information, while “den Preis nicht” leans more toward the price was already part of the conversation (as a concept).
But you cannot use “nicht” twice.
Should I be able to write in the boxes or is this just a verbal exercise?
It’s verbal. I have to change this to a more modern format, for sure!
hi, I have a question
“Ich musste mich richtig konzentrieren, um Thomas nicht aus Versehen etwas von der Überraschungsparty zu erzählen.” – why is ‘nicht’ before ‘aus Versehen’ here?
to me ‘accidentally’ is more of scenery, than the big news
thanks in advance
Oh, fully disagree :).
There is an big difference between “telling someone something” and “accidentally telling someone something”.
If you move the “nicht” to after “aus Versehen”, then you get this:
– …, um Thomas aus Versehen nicht von der Party zu erzählen.
And now “aus Versehen” modifies “not telling about party”. Basically this (not a translation, but same configuration of events).
– I accidentally didn’t tell Thomas about the party.
So you’re “accidentally” not telling him about it. You meant to tell him, but accidentally didn’t.
Does that help?
You can also see “nicht” as being right at the border between “scene” and “news”. Other adverbs like “gern” or so live there as well, in that spot. So the order of adverbs matters. “nicht aus Versehen” is not the same as “aus Versehen nicht”.
yeah, got it, thanks for the explanation
now I can even see that my variant doesn’t really make sense: “I had to really concentrate to accidentally not tell Thomas about the party”
Its cool there is a quiz. I just read both articles and was hoping there would be one as the quizes really help try things out for myself and me see where i am going wrong. I can’t say i internalised all of the rules while reading the articles, because there is a lot of info and its like trying to get your head round algebra or something, but I will come back to them until i have this down. I actually had covid when we did this in the class, so its a very new topic for me.
Versprich mir, dass du mein Bier trinkst.
Your answer: Versprich mir, dass du nicht mein Bier trinkst.
My answer: Versprich mir, dass du mein Bier nicht trinkst.
Maria geht heute dort hin.
your answer: Maria geht heute nicht dort hin.
my answer: Maria geht heute dort nicht hin.
Ich war darauf vorbereitet.
you: Ich war nicht darauf vorbereitet.
me: Ich war darauf nicht vorbereitet.
I’m not going to work through the rest of the quiz as obviously I am not getting some basics right but I was wondering why my answers are wrong please?
Bier-example:
Your version is fine too. It just shifts “my beer” toward being part of the discussion already. If you’re just going to the bathroom and you want your friend to promise this, my version is more “natural”.
dort-example:
Again, your version works as well.
darauf-example:
Same deal.
Looking at this quiz now, I realize that in many cases, more than one position is natural and neutral. I guess I should add alternative answers. It’s quite hard to make a quiz for word order, because there usually isn’t THE ONE answer.
But yeah… you’ve not misunderstood anything so far.
ok thats a real relief to know : ) It is quiet disheartening to feel like you aren’t getting it right, so multiple options would be cool. It also would reinforce that there are mutilple ways of saying stuff..
That said your versions aren’t that intuitive for me, so I’m curious to understand why they work. Like i say, i’ve only begun diving into this topic, so i probably will come back to this : )
Auf fast alles habe ich durch mein Bauchgefühl geantwortet; mir wurde am Ende klar, dass die Wortstellung dieser Sprache für mich nur durch Intuition und ein sich langsam entwicklendes Sprachgefühl zu verstehen ist. Aber danke für das tolle Quiz!
Ha, ja, wenn du Intuition dafür entwickelst, dass ist das absolut beste :)!!
Hello why isn’t it “Die Außerirdischen sind von der Toilette nicht zurückgekommen.”
But “Die Außerirdischen sind nicht von der Toilette zurückgekommen”.because they are “not returning from the toilet”. not “returning not from the toilet”
?
Both are correct and the difference in meaning is minimal. Your suggested version places the toilet more as part of the “scenery” that the action takes place in, while my version groups it with the verb “zurückkommen”.
I don’t really understand the logic you based your translations on, though. The negated part in my version is “returning from the toilet”, that’s what’s behind the “nicht”, so that’s exactly your first translation.
Hallo! I have done better than I expected in this :)
However, I do not understand what happened to cause the object to not be counted as part of ‘the news’ since they both use seid as the verb.
A) Maria will lernen, vor Prüfungen nicht nervös zu sein.
B) Ich muss nicht pünktlich auf Arbeit sein.
Why is the news in one of them ‘to not be worried’ while in the other one it is ‘to be late to work‘
I wanted to answe B as,
“Ich muss auf Arbeit nicht pünktlich sein” It does sound rather weird -eventhough I can not pin down why that is- but it made more sense to me rule-wise.
How does this work out? Why is being late ‘TO WORK‘ important while being worried (about exams) isn’t? Thanks, in advance.
Nice question, and I can luckily clear it up (I hope)
“vor Prüfungen” is a time-box. It answers to “when?”
“auf Arbeit” is a place-box. It answers to “where?”.
So they don’t have the same “weight” in terms of the verb. “Being somewhere” is much more of a thing then “being at some time”. The bits info that can matter for being are “where, what and how”. “time” is secondary, if that makes sense.
In the case of “being punctual at work”, that is kind of one block because it’s one mental unit. Like… it could be part of a list of requirements
I have to:
– do my work
– be punctual at work
– greet my boss
These are “actions” that would typically be negated as a block.
– Ich muss auf Arbeit nicht pünktlich sein.
This is a correct sentence, but here, “auf Arbeit” is just A location.
– At work, I don’t have to be punctual (but at other places I might have to)
Does that help?
Ooh, so this is kind of similar to ‘whern’ if I understand it correctly, haha. Where the concepts kind of bleed together and ‘feel like one box’ if you will. This does help but I think it is a matter of time and Sprachgefühl before I can tell apart the times when the boxes are separate or when they should be merged. This helped though, danke!
Actually, to me “pünktlich” is more of a “how”-box, than a when-box.
Now, where having a real time box, and here, I would actually perceive it as sort of negating only “at 3” and not the overall context of being at work.
This negates that work is a place you DON’T have to be at three.
Either way, “auf Arbeit sein” feels like a strongly connected unit to me, because it’s something people do 40 hours a week :).
Almost as much of a unit as “Klavier spielen”.
Anyway, yes, telling boxes apart can be tricky at times, but what matters is that the system and way of thinking gets you to 80 percent and leaves you without confusion for the rest of instances.
Hello, I got 12 answers wrong, have a question about few of them, for example:
5.
The wine is not tasty to me.
Der Wein schmeckt mir nicht.
Is der Wein smechkt nicht mir, a big mistake? Tried to emphasize, that it is tasty, but not to me.
21.
I don’t get angry over those things.
Ich ärgere mich über solche Sachen nicht.
Same like last time, tried to emphasize uber solche Sachen, so it was like:
Ich ärgere mich nicht über solche Sachen nicht, for me it kinda sounds really familiar, to nicht at the end to say that you dont get angry over those things, but maybe i am wrong?
24.
Maria doesn’t tell this story to her brother.
Maria erzählt diese Geschichte nicht ihrem Bruder.
This one I got good, but on this pretty simple sentence, I would be happy if you can asure that I get this, atleast in 70% good.
If i would put nicht, like here:
Maria erzählt nicht diese Geschichte ihrem Bruder.
it would sound like: Maria tells story to her brother, but not the specyfic story that she has in mind?
Maria erzählt diese Geschichte ihrem Bruder nicht – Maria doesn’t tell any story to her brother?
33.
The Duohorn wasn’t at the dentist’s office yesterday.
Das Duohorn war gestern nicht beim Zahnarzt.
I put nicht, before gestern, but as I think now, that would emphasize more the fact, that he wasn’t there yesterday, than the fact he wasn’t at dentist’s office, right?
Anyway, great test, ich habe Kopfschmerzen.
Wish u great day!
Nice questions!
5) I get your thinking, but your version would mean something like “I’m not the one to whom the wine is tasty, Marc is”. The emphasis on “nicht mir” is VERY strong and only makes sense if you need a strong contrast.
Generally, this exercise looks for the default negation so any special emphasis you come up with is not gonna be what my solution is.
21. Not sure what you’re asking here because you put “nicht” in your sentence twice.
24.
“Maria erzählt nicht diese Geschichte ihrem Bruder.”
Yes, this sounds like she does tell him a story, just not this one.
“Maria erzählt ihrem Bruder die Geschichte nicht.”
This is very generic and means “Maria doesn’t tell her brother the story.”
Note the difference to the English version of my original question where the brother has more focus.
It can’t mean “any story” though because the article is specifically “diese Geschichte”.
33.
Yes, putting it before yesterday sounds like you’re bending over backwards to specifically negate “yesterday” without negative anything else :).
Ahhh u right, I did put twice nicht in 21.
It should be like
Ich ärgere mich nicht über solche Sachen
5
So if it could work, only with strong contrast, then something like this, could work?
Der Wein schmeckt nicht mir, aber für meinen Bruder schmeckt es sehr gut.
Or something similiar? Like
Der Wein schmeckt nicht mir, weil <im alergic do that>
Thanks for quick answer! I will definietly try to retake the test, when I kinda forget about the answers!
So for the sentence with “ärgern” the two versions are pretty much equal.
– Ich ärgere mich über solche Sachen nicht.
– Ich ärgere mich nicht über solche Sachen.
It’s not a good example for this exercise actually, since two options work as a “default”.
As for wine – you’d need a STRONG contrast. Like… the contrast needs to be the reason for you to even say this:
– Der Wein schmeckt nicht mir, sondern meinem Bruder.
A “weil”-sentence after it does NOT create such a contrast/comparison, so no, that wouldn’t sound right.
Okey, thanks, that helped me alot!
Hello……..!
Hi…!
Hi hello. Very interesting and helpful exercises, just have a few questions about some that I got wrong:
7)
The difference between yours and the solution given is REALLY subtle. You#re just making “darauf” more part of the scene than part of the verb. It works well if “darauf” refers BACK to something said before.
It works less well, if “darauf” refers forward to a “dass-sentence”. But even then, it’s still okay.
11)
Your version is “A lot of time passed in which I didn’t think about it”.
What I had in mind was “I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.”
So yes, the meaning changed because you “grouped” the elements differently.
28)
This doesn’t work, because as you said, you split up a box.
13)
This doesn’t work. “sein” with an adjective are very tightly connected and splitting that up creates so much tension, you can’t really justify it with any context. It sounds wrong.
31+33)
No, they’re wrong. “fragen nach” is very tightly connected and it’s weird to split it up. You’d only do it if you want to contrast “danach fragen” with “danach [something else]”, and I don’t think there’s a context that would merit that.
For “sein” and a location… same as to go and a location. You cannot split them, they’re one unit.
41)
You’re saying that he “normally” sleeps at meetings. You’re negating “ausnahmsweise” here.
Hope that helps!
Thank for this mini serie. A thousand times. I’ve been learning German on and off and more or less seriously for a very long time but somehow, I had never seen any of this mentioned (or hadn’t paid attention, who knows). So, now that I’m back to it for real, it threw me in for a loop and down the rabbit hole. I got pretty frustrated, not gonna lie, but that’s part of the journey of learning a new language.
Anywhow, I got 14 wrong answers, I clarified most of them by revisiting them or thanks to all the comments and only one remains unanswered (sort of).
26 : Sie hat es nicht gestern erwähnt –> Sie has es gestern nicht erwähnt.
I think this is similar to n°20 when in English, it’s not super clear cut if where the emphasis is. So here in 26, I thought it was implied that she didn’t mention it today, but another day (therefore nicht in front of gestern) whereas your version is she didn’t mention it at all (nicht in front of erwähnt, negates the mentioning altogether).
Did I get this right ?
I’m happy to hear that you made it through the rabbit hole :).
The stuff I talk about in this series is indeed not mentioned anywhere in the usual teaching material because most of them have no idea about it.
It is based on things I found in the 1.200 page grammar reference book (Grammar Duden), so I didn’t make it up, but it’s only part of the newer editions. And I adapted it to position of “nicht”. It does take a bit of “mind opening” but it’s definitely a better reflection of what German structure is really like and I really hope you could build up an “intuition” after reviewing your mistakes, rather than just applying rules.
About your question:
If you put “nicht” before “gestern” you give it a bump up. Like
And the listener would half expect a follow up like “but she did today”.
The default is that “yesterday” is part of the scenery.
Like… you were talking with her yesterday, that’s the setup, and within that setup she didn’t mention it.
Let me know if that helps :).
First of all, nice workout, as always. Thanks! Now, to the questions, a reasonable amount of them.
8 – Can’t the “nicht” come before “den Preis”? I thought that the object “What” to the verb “to show” would be strongly connected to it, so thinking from the side sentence point of view, the verb being the last position, shouldn’t we put “den Preis” close to it?
17 & 22 – The first “nicht” I got easily, but the second, I tried at first putting it before “dein Bier”. I guess it looks kinda weird with the nicht beginning the relative clause (if it is really a relative clause, I’m terrible at identifying them), but I think I was guided by your example with the five beers in the bar. It is the same doubt with example 22 and, actually, as I’m writing, I’m wondering if this is because of your post on Sentence Structure that says that when we have thing like “mein Bier” or “deinem Kuchen”, they are part of the scenery, since its implied we already know about them. Am I right? (if I am, it would be noice).
39 – (Nice audio, btw) This one I tried at first to put “nicht” before the “wahrend” part. My train of thought was something like, the way you put it, we are not negating the “during work” part, so it would be like “He doesn’t go on Facebook, but on Youtube”. Am I not right? (I am pobably not, but I have to ask)
Well, that’s it. Don’t get fooled by the small number of doubts. A big fraction of the exercises I got wrong, but kind of reasoned with the correct answers and got the idea.
Great questions!!
8)
“den Preis” is before the “nicht” (and so also before the verb) because it is already part of the conversation. Otherwise it would be “zeigt keinen Preis”.
So it behaves like “ihn” would behave.
If you do put it after “nicht” it doesn’t sound completely wrong though… just a bit bumpy. If you put “ihn” after “nicht” however, then it sounds wrong.
17+22)
Yes, you’re spot on with your analysis :).
For 17) you could actually easily switch it and say
I don’t really feel a difference now, but sometimes when creating exercises like this, you don’t realize that two things are possible. Also for 22 you could switch the cake after “nicht”, but it sounds a tiny bit less natural.
These two are not good examples for an exercise like this though, as they’re a bit too ambiguous. I realize that now.
39.)
Your reasoning makes perfect sense!
If you put it before “während der Arbeit” it sounds like he does go on Facebook when he’s not at work.
They way it is now, with “nicht” before Facebook is the most generic you can have for the verb “gehen” with the location being “included”.
If you want to contrast Facebook with Youtube, you’d have to give it extra emphasis by voice. Like
But as it is it’s a pretty neutral negation.
Let me know if that helps :)