Breakdown of Brauchen wir eine Isomatte? Wir haben keine!
ein
a, an (eine)
haben
to have
wir
we
brauchen
to need
keiner
none / not one (sister forms: keins, keine)
die Isomatte
the sleeping pad
Questions & Answers about Brauchen wir eine Isomatte? Wir haben keine!
Why does the sentence end with just keine?
Here, keine acts as a negative pronoun replacing a noun, meaning "none" or "not one." Instead of repeating the noun and saying Wir haben keine Isomatte, you can just drop the noun and say Wir haben keine.
How do we know to use keine and not keinen or keins?
The pronoun has to match the gender and case of the noun it replaces. Die Isomatte is feminine, and it is the direct object (accusative case) of the verb haben. For feminine accusative nouns, the negative pronoun is keine.
Could I say Wir haben nicht eine instead of Wir haben keine?
In German, you almost always use a form of kein to negate a noun that has an indefinite article (eine) or no article. Saying nicht eine sounds unnatural unless you are heavily emphasizing "not even ONE."
What is an Isomatte?
It is short for Isoliermatte, which literally translates to "insulating mat." It is the standard German word for a camping mat or sleeping pad.
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