Breakdown of Der Detektiv wusste die Antwort nicht.
nicht
not
die Antwort
the answer
wissen
to know (a fact)
der Detektiv
the detective
Questions & Answers about Der Detektiv wusste die Antwort nicht.
Why does wissen become wusste in the simple past? Is it a regular or irregular verb?
Wissen is a "mixed verb" (Mischverb). This means it mixes features of both strong (irregular) and weak (regular) verbs. Like an irregular verb, it changes its stem vowel (from i to u). But like a regular verb, it adds the standard past tense ending -te. That is why we get wusste.
Could I say Der Detektiv kannte die Antwort nicht instead?
No, because kennen means "to be familiar with" a person, place, or thing, whereas wissen means "to know a fact." Since an answer is a piece of factual information, you must use the past tense of wissen (wusste). If the detective didn't know the suspect, you would use the past tense of kennen (kannte).
I sometimes see wüsste with an umlaut. Why doesn't wusste have one here?
In the simple past tense (Präteritum), there is no umlaut: er wusste just means "he knew." If you add an umlaut to make it er wüsste, it becomes the subjunctive (Konjunktiv II) and changes the meaning to "he would know." Mixed verbs often drop their umlauts in the simple past but get them back in the subjunctive.
Why is nicht at the very end of the sentence?
In German, when you want to negate the entire action (the fact that he knew the answer), nicht gets pushed to the end of the clause. It naturally comes after the direct object (die Antwort).
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