- After a dative phrase: Das Buch gehört mir nicht.
- After a definite object: Ich suche die Schlüsel nicht.
- Before an indefinite object: Ich habe nicht eine müde Mark gesehen.
- Before the second block of verbs:
- the participle: Er ist gestern auch nicht gekommen.
- the infinitive: Er kann nicht kommen.
- the prefix of a separable verb: Er macht das Licht nicht aus.
- Before a prepositional phrase: Ich interessiere mich nicht für Grammatik.
- Before a locational phrase: Sie wohnt nicht in Berlin. Sie schaut nicht unter das Bett.
- Before a qualification: Er ist überhaupt nicht dick.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Negation in German
For a long time I have been told that "nicht" should go as close to the end of a sentence as possible but no closer. Yesterday we were given the rules for this and I found out why no one wanted to tell me them before. Here they are (translated roughly into English):
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When learning grammar in a new natural language, I generally find it most useful to learn the rules up front and then see many examples to internalize it. This is quite similar to the way that most people learn a new computer language, however, it seems contrary to the way that most people learn a natural language. For this case the person is exposed to many examples. Only after internalizing it do they understand the rules and even then they still may not actively think about it unless asked.
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