Questions & Answers about Ik wil geen jas kopen.
Why do we use geen here instead of niet?
We use geen to negate indefinite nouns (nouns that use "a", "an", or no article in English). It literally means "no" or "not a". Since the translation is "not a coat", you must use geen. If you were talking about a specific coat ("not the coat"), you would use niet.
Why is the verb kopen at the very end of the sentence?
When a Dutch sentence has two verbs, the first verb (wil) takes the normal second position in the sentence, and the second verb (kopen) gets pushed all the way to the end in its full dictionary form (the infinitive).
Is wil related to the English word "will"?
They look very similar, but wil is a false friend! In Dutch, the verb willen means "to want", not "will" as a future tense. So ik wil always means "I want".
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