Breakdown of Er hatte keinen Schlafanzug und ihm war kalt.
sein
to be
er
he
und
and
haben
to have
kein
no, not any
kalt
cold
ihm
him / it / to him / to it (dative)
der Schlafanzug
the pajamas
Questions & Answers about Er hatte keinen Schlafanzug und ihm war kalt.
Why is it ihm war kalt instead of er war kalt?
In German, physical sensations like being cold, warm, or sick are expressed using the dative case for the person experiencing them. Ihm war kalt means that he felt cold. If you said er war kalt, it would mean his body was physically cold to the touch, or that he was an emotionally cold person.
Why do we use keinen here instead of nicht to say he didn't have pajamas?
You use kein (and its various endings) to negate a noun that doesn't have a definite article. Since we are negating the noun Schlafanzug rather than a verb or an adjective, we use a form of kein instead of nicht.
Why does kein take the ending -en in keinen Schlafanzug?
Schlafanzug is a masculine noun (der Schlafanzug). In this sentence, it is the direct object being acted upon by the verb hatte, so it must be in the accusative case. The accusative masculine ending for kein is -en, making it keinen.
Why does this sentence use the simple past tense (hatte, war) instead of the spoken past (Perfekt)?
While spoken German generally prefers the spoken past for most verbs, haben and sein are major exceptions. It is much more natural and common to use their simple past forms (hatte and war) even in everyday conversation.
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