Breakdown of Ich kenne die Herkunft meiner Familie nicht.
ich
I
nicht
not
kennen
to know (somebody/something)
mein
my
die Familie
the family
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Herkunft
the origin / the ancestry
Questions & Answers about Ich kenne die Herkunft meiner Familie nicht.
Why do we use kenne here instead of weiß?
In German, there are two common verbs for "to know". Wissen is used for knowing facts or information (often followed by a question word or "that"). Kennen is used for being familiar with a noun—a person, place, or thing. Since you are talking about knowing "the origin" (die Herkunft), you must use kennen.
Why is it meiner Familie instead of meine Familie?
This sentence uses the Genitive case, which expresses possession or "of" relationships. Familie is a feminine noun, and in the Genitive case, the feminine possessive word meine changes its ending to meiner. This phrase literally translates to "of my family".
Why is nicht placed at the very end of the sentence?
When you negate the main action of a sentence (here, the fact that you know), nicht typically gets pushed to the end. It must come after the direct object, which in this case is the entire long phrase die Herkunft meiner Familie.
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