Breakdown of Er kennt deinen Partner nicht.
er
he
nicht
not
kennen
to know (somebody/something)
der Partner
the partner (male)
deinen
your (informal singular, accusative masculine)
Questions & Answers about Er kennt deinen Partner nicht.
Why is it deinen instead of just dein?
In this sentence, dein (your) describes a masculine noun (Partner) that is the direct object (the person receiving the action of being known). This means it is in the Accusative case. In the Accusative case, masculine words like dein take an -en ending, becoming deinen.
Why does this sentence use kennt for 'know'? Shouldn't it be from the verb wissen?
German has two verbs for 'to know'. You use kennen (which becomes kennt here) when you are familiar with a person, place, or thing. You use wissen when you know a fact or piece of information. Since he doesn't know a person (deinen Partner), we must use kennen.
Why is the word nicht at the very end of the sentence?
When you want to negate the main verb of a sentence (here, the action of knowing), the word nicht (not) usually gets pushed to the end. It goes after the direct object (deinen Partner).
How would this sentence change if it meant 'He does not know your female partner'?
The noun would change to Partnerin, which is feminine. Because feminine nouns in the Accusative case just take an -e ending on their possessive words, the sentence would be: Er kennt deine Partnerin nicht.
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