"Ohne", "Kein", "Nicht". I'm perplexed about these three German words. 1. Auf einer Party kann man ohne Geschenk gehen. 2. Bringen Sie Kindern lieber keine Süßigkeiten mit. Manche Eltern wollen das n

Andrew Zhao

"Ohne", "Kein", "Nicht". I'm perplexed about these three German words. 1. Auf einer Party kann man ohne Geschenk gehen. 2. Bringen Sie Kindern lieber keine Süßigkeiten mit. Manche Eltern wollen das nicht. I wonder can I switch "ohne" and "keine" in the example above?

Oct 19, 2014 3:51 AM

Answers · 5

No, you can't switch. "Ohne" is a preposition that means "without". "Keine" is a combination of "nicht" and "eine"; it doesn't work exactly the same way in English, but the closest equivalent is "no". So it's wrong in English in a similar way: One can go to a party without a present. (correct) One can go to a party no present. (wrong) Same for the other sentence.

October 19, 2014

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