Learn Dutch: We hebben geen tas nodig.

In Dutch, geen is used to negate nouns when in English you would say 'not a', 'not any', or 'no'. Because we are saying we do not need A bag, we put geen right before the noun tas. If you want to negate a verb or adjective you usually use niet, but for a noun like this, geen is the word you need.

Why are the words for 'need' (hebben and nodig) split up in this sentence?

The Dutch verb for 'to need' is made of two words: nodig hebben. It literally translates to 'to have necessary'. In a standard sentence, the verb hebben takes the normal second position, and the word nodig gets pushed to the very end of the sentence. Whatever it is you need (or don't need, like geen tas) goes right in the middle.

Does the sentence literally translate to 'We have no bag necessary'?

Exactly! Thinking of it this way is a great trick for remembering the sentence structure. We (we) hebben (have) geen tas (no bag) nodig (necessary).

Could I translate 'not a' by saying niet een instead of using geen?