Breakdown of Hier gibt es eine Post, aber keine Bank.
ein
a, an (eine)
es
it
hier
here
aber
but
kein
no, not any
geben
to give
die Post
the post office
die Bank
the bank
es gibt
there is / there are
Questions & Answers about Hier gibt es eine Post, aber keine Bank.
Why is it gibt es instead of es gibt?
In German, the verb must be the second idea in a standard sentence. Because this sentence starts with the location word Hier (Here), the verb gibt comes right after it to stay in position two. The subject es (it) then gets pushed to the third position.
The lesson says es gibt needs the accusative case. Why don't eine Post and keine Bank have special accusative endings?
They actually are in the accusative case, but the endings don't look special because of their gender. Both Post and Bank are feminine nouns. Feminine words do not change their spelling in the accusative case. They stay eine and keine, whereas a masculine noun would change (like einen Apfel).
Why use keine Bank instead of nicht eine Bank for "no bank"?
When negating a noun that uses an indefinite article (a/an) in English, German always uses the negative article kein (or keine for feminine nouns). It is the standard way to say "not a" or "no" when talking about things.
Does gibt es literally mean "gives it"?
Yes! The verb geben means "to give", so Hier gibt es literally translates to "Here gives it". Even though it sounds funny in English, this is the fixed German expression for both "There is" and "There are".
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