German splits the job of negation between two words. For verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and definite noun phrases you use nicht; for indefinite, plural, and mass nouns you use kein. This page is about kein — how it declines, when it is required, and why German even needs a separate word for it. Get kein right and roughly half of all German negation falls into place.
What kein is: the negative of ein
kein is the negation of the indefinite article ein. Where English negates a noun with "not a," "no," or "not any," German fuses all three into one declined word. Compare:
Ich habe ein Auto. → Ich habe kein Auto.
I have a car. → I have no car / I don't have a car.
The logic is mechanical: take the ein-word slot, add a k- to the front, and decline it exactly as you would ein. Because of this, German speakers think of kein as belonging to the same family as ein, mein, dein, sein — the so-called ein-words. They all share one ending set.
The full declension table
Here is kein across all four cases and all three genders, plus the plural:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | kein | keine | kein | keine |
| Accusative | keinen | keine | kein | keine |
| Dative | keinem | keiner | keinem | keinen |
| Genitive | keines | keiner | keines | keiner |
Read it as the ein table with a k- and an extra column. The nominative masculine and neuter (kein) are the bare, ending-less forms — the same two spots where ein also has no ending. Everywhere else, kein carries the strong determiner ending.
The most error-prone cell for learners is the accusative masculine, keinen, because the noun phrase is the direct object of so many everyday verbs (haben, trinken, kennen):
Ich habe keinen Bruder, nur eine Schwester.
I don't have a brother, only a sister. (accusative masculine: keinen Bruder)
Wir haben heute keinen Strom — der ganze Block ist ohne Elektrizität.
We have no power today — the whole block is without electricity. (accusative masculine: keinen Strom)
And the dative appears wherever a dative verb or preposition governs the noun:
Ich helfe keinem Menschen, der so lügt.
I won't help anyone who lies like that. (dative masculine: keinem Menschen)
When kein is required: indefinite, plural, and mass nouns
The rule that separates kein from nicht is about the article on the noun. Use kein when the noun would otherwise take ein or no article at all. There are three concrete cases:
1. Singular nouns with the indefinite article. "Not a / not any":
Das ist kein Problem — mach dir keine Sorgen.
That's not a problem — don't worry. (informal)
2. Bare plural nouns. This is the case English speakers most often get wrong, because ein has no plural, so they reach for nicht. German cannot say nicht here; it must use the plural keine:
Ich habe keine Fragen mehr, danke.
I have no more questions, thanks. (plural: keine Fragen, not 'nicht Fragen')
Es gibt hier leider keine freien Tische.
Unfortunately there are no free tables here. (plural after 'es gibt')
3. Mass / uncountable nouns used without an article. "No / not any" of an uncountable substance:
Ich trinke keinen Alkohol, ich muss noch fahren.
I don't drink alcohol, I still have to drive. (mass noun: keinen Alkohol)
Tut mir leid, ich habe gerade keine Zeit.
Sorry, I don't have time right now. (mass/abstract noun: keine Zeit)
The thread connecting all three is the absence of a definite article or other determiner. If the noun has der/die/das, dieser, a possessive, or a number you intend to keep, you negate with nicht instead — Ich kenne den Mann nicht ("I don't know the man"), not kein.
Why German needs a separate word at all
English gets by with "no/not any" as a loose phrase, but German built negation into the article system itself. The deep reason is that ein — the indefinite article — has no plural and no mass form. You cannot say ein before Fragen or Zeit. So when German needed to negate exactly those article-less nouns, nicht ein would have been clumsy and, for plurals, impossible. kein fills precisely the gap that ein leaves open: where ein has no plural, kein does, because it has to negate the plural and mass nouns that ein itself can never mark. Seen this way, keine Fragen is not an exception — it is the whole point of the word.
kein triggers mixed adjective endings
Because kein is an ein-word, an adjective after it follows the mixed declension — the same pattern adjectives take after ein and the possessives. In the two ending-less kein slots (nominative masc./neut., and accusative neut.), the adjective must show the gender itself with a strong ending; elsewhere it takes the weak -en.
| Case | Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | kein guter Grund | kein gutes Buch | keine gute Idee | keine guten Ideen |
| Acc. | keinen guten Grund | kein gutes Buch | keine gute Idee | keine guten Ideen |
Dafür gibt es keinen guten Grund.
There's no good reason for that. (mixed: nom./acc. masc. → 'guten')
Das ist kein gutes Zeichen.
That's not a good sign. (mixed: nom./acc. neut. → strong 'gutes' because 'kein' shows no ending)
Ich habe keine neuen Nachrichten für dich.
I have no new messages for you. (plural → weak 'neuen')
Notice kein guter Grund versus kein gutes Buch: the adjective carries the strong masculine -er and neuter -es precisely because kein itself is bare in those slots and something has to signal the gender. After the inflected keine/keinen/keinem, the adjective relaxes to -en.
kein standing alone: keiner / keins / keine
When kein drops its noun and stands as a pronoun ("none, not one"), it picks up the strong der-word endings, including a neuter -s (keins, colloquially also keines):
Ist noch Brot da? — Nein, es ist keins mehr da.
Is there any bread left? — No, there's none left. (pronoun, neuter: keins, agreeing with das Brot)
Von den Bewerbern war keiner wirklich überzeugend.
None of the applicants was really convincing. (pronoun, masculine: keiner)
Common Mistakes
Using nicht for a bare plural — the classic English-transfer error, because "not any books" tempts you toward nicht.
❌ Ich habe nicht Bücher.
Incorrect — a bare plural noun is negated with the plural of kein, not with nicht.
✅ Ich habe keine Bücher.
I don't have any books.
Forgetting the accusative -en on masculine nouns.
❌ Ich habe kein Hund.
Incorrect — 'Hund' is the accusative object, so kein must be 'keinen.'
✅ Ich habe keinen Hund.
I don't have a dog.
Splitting it into nicht ein on the English "not a" model.
❌ Das ist nicht ein Problem.
Incorrect — German fuses 'not a' into one word: kein.
✅ Das ist kein Problem.
That's not a problem.
Wrong adjective ending after a bare kein — using the weak -en where a strong ending is needed.
❌ Das ist kein guten Grund.
Incorrect — after bare 'kein' (nom. masc.) the adjective takes the strong '-er': guter.
✅ Das ist kein guter Grund.
That's not a good reason.
Using kein with a definite noun instead of nicht.
❌ Ich kenne kein den Mann.
Incorrect — a noun with a definite article is negated with nicht, not kein.
✅ Ich kenne den Mann nicht.
I don't know the man.
Key Takeaways
- kein is the negative of ein and declines like it: just add k-.
- Unlike ein, it has a full plural (keine Bücher), because German needs to negate the plural and mass nouns that ein itself cannot mark.
- Use kein for indefinite singulars, bare plurals, and mass nouns; use nicht for definite nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
- The accusative masculine keinen and the dative forms are the most error-prone — watch the case.
- kein triggers mixed adjective endings: strong endings in its two bare slots (kein guter Grund, kein gutes Buch), weak -en elsewhere.
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
- Negation: nicht and keinA1 — German's two main negators and their division of labour — kein negates nouns with an indefinite or no article, nicht negates everything else, and the choice hinges on the noun's article.
- nicht vs keinA2 — How to choose between German's two negators — kein for nouns that would take ein or no article, nicht for everything else.
- Negating with keinA1 — How German negates noun phrases with the negative article kein, and why the choice between kein and nicht is the central German negation decision.
- Mixed Adjective Declension (after ein-words)B1 — The hybrid pattern after ein-words: weak endings where the ein-word inflects, but strong endings in the three gaps where ein shows nothing.
- es gibt and Impersonal ConstructionsA2 — Why German says es gibt for 'there is/are' with the accusative and no plural, when to use es ist/es sind instead, and how impersonal es behaves.
- Negative Words: nie, niemand, nichts, nirgendsA2 — The negative pro-forms that negate on their own — never, nobody, nothing, nowhere — and how each pairs with a positive counterpart in a clean system.