jiddereen / keen

Everyone and No One: Jiddereen and Keen

Level 2

jiddereen = everyone · keen = no one: Jiddereen ass do. Keen huet ugeruff.

How It Works

Jiddereen – everyone, each one

  • Jiddereen ass do. (Everyone is here.)
  • Jidderee kritt e Stéck Kuch. (Everyone gets a piece of cake.)
  • jidderee vun de Kanner – each of the children

Keen – no one, nobody

  • Keen huet ugeruff. (No one called.)
  • Hei kennt mech keen. (Nobody knows me here.)
  • kee vun hinnen – none of them

Singular verb
Use ass, huet, kënnt, not the plural forms: Jiddereen ass zefridden. For a plural, say all d’Leit (see all/alles).

N-rule
Jiddereen and keen drop the n before most consonants: Jidderee kritt, Kee vun eis. Before a vowel and d, h, n, t and z the n stays: Keen huet, Jiddereen ass. At the end of a sentence it is always written (see n-rule before punctuation).

Dative
After dative verbs and prepositions, use jidderengem and kengem:

  • Esou eppes ka jidderengem passéieren! (That kind of thing can happen to anyone!)
  • Ech hunn et kengem gesot. (I haven’t told anyone.)

No double negation
Keen already means no one. Adding net would turn the meaning around, so Keen huet ugeruff has no net.

Keen as a pronoun and as an article
Before a noun, keen/keng means no or not a: keen Auto. On its own, keen means no one. Its partner for things is näischt.

Examples (6)

  1. Jiddereen ass do.

    Everyone is here.

    Word by Word: Everyone is there.

    The verb is singular: ass.

  2. Keen huet ugeruff.

    No one called.

    Word by Word: No one has called.

    Keen keeps its n before h, and there is no net.

  3. Hei kennt mech keen.

    Nobody knows me here.

    Word by Word: Here knows me no one.

    At the end of the sentence the n of keen is written.

  4. Jidderee kritt e Stéck Kuch.

    Everyone gets a piece of cake.

    Word by Word: Everyone gets a piece cake.

    Jiddereen loses its n before k.

  5. Esou eppes ka jidderengem passéieren!

    That kind of thing can happen to anyone!

    Word by Word: Such something can to everyone happen!

    Passéieren takes the dative, so jiddereen becomes jidderengem.

  6. Ech hunn et kengem gesot.

    I haven’t told anyone.

    Word by Word: I have it to no one said.

    Kengem is the dative of keen.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a plural verb with jiddereen.

    Jiddereen sinn do.
    Jiddereen ass do.

    Jiddereen means all people, but it is grammatically singular, so the verb takes the hien form.

  • Adding net to keen.

    Keen huet net ugeruff.
    Keen huet ugeruff.

    Keen is already negative. Keen huet net ugeruff would mean that everyone called.

  • Using keen instead of the dative kengem.

    Ech hunn et keen gesot.
    Ech hunn et kengem gesot.

    The person you tell something to is in the dative, so keen becomes kengem and jiddereen becomes jidderengem.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

jiddereen / keenLevel 2Everyone and No One: Jiddereen and Keen

Learn This First

Before Everyone and No One: Jiddereen and Keen, learn One, You, People: Een and Negative Article: Keen and Keng.

Words in This Pattern

jiddereenkeenjidderengemkengem