Breakdown of Gibt es hier keine Apotheke?
es
it
hier
here
kein
no, not any
geben
to give
die Apotheke
the pharmacy
es gibt
there is / there are
Questions & Answers about Gibt es hier keine Apotheke?
Why is it Gibt es instead of Es gibt?
To form a yes/no question in German, you swap the verb and the subject. By flipping the statement Es gibt (There is) into Gibt es, it becomes a question meaning: Is there?
Since es gibt requires the accusative case, shouldn't the ending of keine change here?
Apotheke is a feminine noun. In the accusative case, only masculine words change their endings (like taking an -n to become keinen). Feminine words keep their standard ending, so it remains keine Apotheke.
Why do we use keine here instead of nicht?
In German, you use a form of kein to negate nouns that would normally have an indefinite article like a or an. Because you are negating the noun Apotheke to mean not a pharmacy or zero pharmacies, you must use keine. You use nicht when negating verbs or adjectives.
Could I put hier at the very end of the sentence, like Gibt es keine Apotheke hier?
People would understand you, but it sounds less natural. In German, short words describing time or place like hier usually come right after the verb and pronoun, and before the object. That makes Gibt es hier... the standard, natural word order.
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