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Questions & Answers about Niemand kent het geheim.
How do we conjugate the verb when niemand is the subject?
Just like "nobody" or "no one" in English, niemand is treated as a singular subject. That is why we use the singular verb form kent instead of the plural kennen.
Why does this sentence use kent instead of weet? Don't they both mean "to know"?
They do, but they are used differently! You use weten for facts or knowing that something is true. You use kennen when you are familiar with a person, a place, or a specific noun—in this case, het geheim (the secret). Because a secret is treated as a thing you are familiar with, we use kennen.
Could I use niets instead of niemand here?
It would completely change the meaning. Niemand means "nobody" or "no one" (referring to people), while niets means "nothing" (referring to things). If you said "Niets kent het geheim", it would mean "Nothing knows the secret", which sounds very strange!
Do I need to add niet to make the sentence negative?
No, you don't need any extra negative words. The word niemand already contains the negative meaning. Just like in standard English, Dutch avoids double negatives, so using niemand by itself is enough to make the whole sentence negative.