| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Bitte (pause with a tap of the finger) hier nicht, das ist verboten. |
| Bitte (pause with a tap of the finger) hier nicht, das ist verboten. |
| rauch |
| rauch |
| Bitte rauch hier nicht, das ist verboten. |
| Bitte rauch hier nicht, das ist verboten. |
| "Please don't smoke here, that's forbidden." |
| We use rauch here because it is the imperative du-form of rauchen, the verb "to smoke." In the imperative, the ending is dropped. |
| Rauchen is the infinitive and cannot be used as a command. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Bitte (pause with a tap of the finger) jetzt nicht so laut. |
| Bitte (pause with a tap of the finger) jetzt nicht so laut. |
| sprich |
| sprich |
| Bitte sprich jetzt nicht so laut. |
| Bitte sprich jetzt nicht so laut. |
| "Please don't speak so loudly right now." |
| We use sprich here because it is the imperative du-form of sprechen. The vowel changes from e to i in the imperative. |
| Spricht is the 3rd person singular form, which describes what "he" or "she" does, not a command. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Bitte (pause with a tap of the finger) heute Abend nicht so schnell. |
| Bitte (pause with a tap of the finger) heute Abend nicht so schnell. |
| fahr |
| fahr |
| Bitte fahr heute Abend nicht so schnell. |
| Bitte fahr heute Abend nicht so schnell. |
| "Please don't drive so fast this evening." |
| We use fahr here because it is the imperative du-form of fahren. The umlaut from fährst disappears in the imperative. |
| Fährst is the present tense 2nd person singular form, not an imperative, so it cannot be used to give a command. |
| Unscramble the words to make a sentence. |
| Ready? |
| Bitte |
| Bitte vergiss |
| Bitte vergiss heute |
| Bitte vergiss heute nicht |
| Bitte vergiss heute nicht deine |
| Bitte vergiss heute nicht deine Hausaufgaben. |
| "Please don't forget your homework today." |
| Bitte vergiss heute nicht deine Hausaufgaben. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Mach bitte morgen (keinen or nicht) Fehler im Test. |
| Mach bitte morgen (keinen or nicht) Fehler im Test. |
| keinen |
| keinen |
| Mach bitte morgen keinen Fehler im Test. |
| "Please don't make a mistake in the test tomorrow." |
| We use keinen here because Fehler is a masculine noun. In the accusative case, masculine nouns take -en, so it becomes keinen Fehler. |
| Nicht is wrong because we are negating the noun 'Fehler' (a mistake). The sentence means 'make no mistake,' so we must use keinen. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Schreib bitte diese Woche (keine or nicht) langen Nachrichten. |
| Schreib bitte diese Woche (keine or nicht) langen Nachrichten. |
| keine |
| keine |
| Schreib bitte diese Woche keine langen Nachrichten. |
| "Please don't write long messages this week." |
| We use keine here because Nachrichten is a plural noun. In the accusative case, plural nouns take keine. |
| Nicht is wrong because we are negating the noun 'Nachrichten' (messages). The sentence means 'write no long messages,' so we must use keine. |
| Let's translate some sentences into German. |
| Translate "Please don't play ball in the room, that's dangerous." into German. |
| Bitte, meaning "please," |
| followed by |
| spiel, the imperative form of spielen, meaning "play," |
| next |
| im Zimmer, meaning "in the room," |
| followed by |
| keinen Ball, meaning "no ball." |
| next |
| das ist gefährlich, meaning "that is dangerous." |
| Here, Ball is masculine, so in the accusative it becomes keinen Ball. |
| Bitte spiel im Zimmer keinen Ball, das ist gefährlich. |
| Bitte spiel im Zimmer keinen Ball, das ist gefährlich. |
| "Please don't play ball in the room, that's dangerous." |
| Translate "Please don't buy expensive things tomorrow." into German. |
| Bitte, meaning "please," |
| followed by |
| kauf, the imperative form of kaufen, meaning "buy," |
| next |
| morgen, meaning "tomorrow," |
| followed by |
| keine teuren Sachen, meaning "no expensive things." |
| Here, Sachen is plural, so in the accusative it takes keine. |
| Bitte kauf morgen keine teuren Sachen. |
| Bitte kauf morgen keine teuren Sachen. |
| "Please don't buy expensive things tomorrow." |
| Translate "Please don't drive so fast this evening." into German. |
| Bitte, meaning "please," |
| followed by |
| fahr, the imperative form of fahren, meaning "drive," |
| next |
| heute Abend, meaning "this evening," |
| followed by |
| nicht so schnell, meaning "not so fast." |
| Here we use nicht because we are negating 'so schnell' (so fast), which describes the action of driving. |
| Bitte fahr heute Abend nicht so schnell. |
| Bitte fahr heute Abend nicht so schnell. |
| "Please don't drive so fast this evening." |
| Listen to me as I speak. Did the character use nicht or kein to make the request negative? |
| Bitte iss den Kuchen nicht. |
| Let's listen one more time. |
| Bitte iss den Kuchen nicht. |
| The answer is nicht. Here, we are negating the action of eating the specific cake. |
| How about...? |
| Bitte iss keinen Kuchen. |
| Let's listen one more time. |
| Bitte iss keinen Kuchen. |
| The answer is kein. Here, we are negating the noun 'Kuchen' in general, meaning "eat no cake." |
| Next… |
| Bitte sprich nicht. |
| One more time. |
| Bitte sprich nicht. |
| Did you hear nicht? We are negating the verb 'sprechen' (to speak). |
| And last one... |
| Bitte mach keine Fehler. |
| One more time. |
| Bitte mach keine Fehler. |
| Did you hear keine? We are negating the noun 'Fehler' (mistakes). |
| Thank you for watching. |
| Now you know how to ask someone not to do something in German. |
| ...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway. |
| Bis bald! |
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