Breakdown of Die Kinder dürfen keinen Wein trinken.
das Kind
the child
trinken
to drink
kein
no, not any
der Wein
the wine
dürfen
to be allowed to, may
Questions & Answers about Die Kinder dürfen keinen Wein trinken.
Why do we use dürfen here if the English translation says "not allowed to"?
dürfen means "to be allowed to" or "may". When we combine it with a negative word like keinen, it means "not allowed to" or "must not". English speakers often get tripped up here: to say you "must not" do something, German uses the negative of dürfen, not müssen.
Why is trinken at the very end of the sentence?
This is the golden rule for sentences with modal verbs! The modal verb (dürfen) takes the second position and matches the subject (Die Kinder). The main action verb (trinken) stays in its base form (infinitive) and is kicked to the very end of the sentence.
Why do we use keinen instead of nicht to make the sentence negative?
In German, when you want to negate a noun that doesn't have a specific article (like just "wine" instead of "the wine"), you use a form of kein rather than nicht. It translates literally to "The children are allowed to drink NO wine."
Why does kein have an "-en" ending here to make keinen?
Wein is a masculine noun (der Wein), and here it is the direct object of the sentence (the thing being drunk). That means it is in the accusative case. Masculine nouns in the accusative change their "ein" or "kein" words to end in "-en".
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