Breakdown of Eine humorlose Figur hat keine guten Eigenschaften.
ein
a, an (eine)
gut
good / well
haben
to have
kein
no, not any
humorlos
humorless
die Figur
the character (in a story)
die Eigenschaft
the trait
Questions & Answers about Eine humorlose Figur hat keine guten Eigenschaften.
How is the adjective humorlose formed in this sentence?
It combines the noun der Humor (humor) with the suffix -los (meaning "without" or "-less"), creating the base adjective humorlos. It then gets the ending -e because it describes a feminine noun (Figur) in the nominative case after the indefinite article eine.
Why does humorlose end in -e but guten end in -en?
Eine humorlose Figur is singular, feminine, and in the nominative case, so the adjective takes an -e ending. In contrast, keine guten Eigenschaften is plural and in the accusative case. Adjectives that come after a plural negative article like keine always take the -en ending.
What does the suffix -schaft in Eigenschaften tell us?
Why do we use keine to negate this sentence instead of nicht?
In German, you use a form of kein (meaning "not any" or "no") to negate a noun that would normally have an indefinite article or no article. Because we are directly negating the noun Eigenschaften (traits), we use keine rather than the adverb nicht.
Learn Eine humorlose Figur hat keine guten Eigenschaften 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