Questions & Answers about Ich habe keinen Appetit.
Why do we use keinen instead of nicht to say "not"?
Why does it end in -en to make keinen?
The verb haben (to have) takes a direct object, which requires the accusative case. Since the word for appetite is masculine (der Appetit), the "no" word must take the masculine accusative ending, becoming keinen.
How can I tell what the gender of Appetit is just by looking at this sentence?
You can work backwards from keinen! In the accusative case, only masculine nouns force that -en ending on words like ein or kein. So, it must be der Appetit.
Learn Ich habe keinen Appetit and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free