# niet / geen



## Pawcio

When I must use niet in sentense, and when geen

Ik heeb geen kinderen or ik heeb kinderen niet? (it's ofcourse example)


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## Suehil

The first means 'I have no children', the second (which would not be used in Dutch) means 'I do not have children'.


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## Chimel

I don't know in Polish, but in many languages, there are two negative forms: a) not, nicht, ne pas... b) no, kein, ne pas de... To put it roughly: The first one is "niet" and the second one "geen" in Dutch.

Otherwise, a first basic rule for a beginner would be: if the "yes answer" would be a number (1, 2, 3... children, houses, problems,...), use "geen", otherwise use "niet".

Of course, this is a little bit simplified. You would say for instance "Ik geen geen tijd", although you cannot count time with 1, 2, 3... But it's a good tip to start with.


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## bibibiben

Pawcio said:


> When I must use niet in sentense, and when geen
> 
> Ik heeb geen kinderen or ik heeb kinderen niet? (it's ofcourse example)



As a rule of thumb, 'niet' is used to negate definite nouns and 'geen' is used to negate indefinite nouns:

Correct: Ik heb geen kinderen. [_Kinderen_ is indefinite.]
Correct: Ik heb de kinderen niet. [_De kinderen_ is definite.]
Wrong: Ik heb niet kinderen.
Wrong: Ik heb kinderen niet.

The second sentence only makes sense in certain contexts. For example:
A: Jij had toch de kinderen bij je?
B: Nee, ik heb de kinderen niet. Ik dacht dat ze bij jou waren!

Please note:

1. Not all definite nouns take the definite articles _de_ or _het._ Many proper nouns go without articles:
Correct: Dat is Paul. → Dat is Paul niet. [_Paul i_s definite.]

2. Not all indefinite nouns take the indefinite article _een.
_Correct: Dat is koffie. → Dat is geen koffie. [_Koffie_ is indefinite.]

A complicating factor is that 'niet' negates not only nouns but complete predicates as well. 'Geen' negates nouns only. See for more details http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1423/. If you're not an advanced student it may be wiser not to delve into this subject matter. It's not the easiest stuff to digest ...


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## dawdaw

There are equivalents in Polish if I am not mistaken.
As a native Dutch speaker fluent in spoken polish I would say:

Geen - zadnych (ani jednego). Strictly speaking in dutch it would be "geen enkele" but the distinction is irrelevant is this case.
Niet - Nie.
But in Dutch, contrary to Polish, you will use the geen (don't ask me why). So:

I heb geen kinderen - Nie mam (zadnych) dzieci. This is the only correct way to say it, even if in polish the zadnych is not necessary.
Ik heb niet kinderen/kinderen niet - Nie mam dzieci. I get that it sounds better but this is actually incorrect in dutch. 

In this way it is true that if you can count it the "geen" is the way to go - nie mam zadnych bo moge je wyliczyc.

As opposed to: ik heb de kinderen niet - nie mam (tych) dzieci. I do not have those specific children. You can not, strictly speaking, count them. 

See bibibiben's thread for a grammatical explenation.


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## Leo Alatus

Hallo,
I am beginner learning dutch.
Do I understand correctly
1) geen - Ik heb geen fliets - I have no bicycle; Ich habe kein Fahrrad - referes only to nouns
2)niet - Ik zwem niet. Ik kan niet zwemmen. - I don't swimm, I can't swimm - refers only to verbs
Right?
Alvast bedankt voor je tijd en hulp.


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## eno2

Leo Alatus said:


> 1) geen - Ik heb geen fliets



Applying the rule of Bibibiben (which I did not know) like this: fiets is 'indefinite' here (general). So: geen fiets. 
Ik heb mijn fiets niet: fiets is 'definite' here (concrete: my bicycle). 
Ik heb de fiets niet, ik heb die fiets niet:  definite....


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