Advantage or Disadvantage?

In English, we talk about events or circumstances having "advantages" or "disadvantages," or the "pros and cons" of a situation. Let's take a look at the vocabulary used to express these qualities in German.

Der Vorteil can be translated as "the advantage" or "the benefit":

Vorteil: Schließt man den Schirm, ist die nasse Seite innen.

Advantage: If you close the umbrella, the wet side is on the inside.

Caption 9, Erfindung aus Japan - Der verkehrte Regenschirm
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Der Nachteil can be translated as "the disadvantage" or "the drawback":

Die Musik ist manchmal 'n bisschen zu laut.

The music is sometimes a little too loud.

Das ist der Nachteil.

That's the drawback.

Captions 52-53, Rockfabrik-Open-Air - Love-Street-Interview
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Here we can see the plural forms of both of these words:

Das hat viele Vorteile, aber auch Nachteile,

That has many advantages, but also disadvantages,

gesteht der Sänger im Interview.

the singer admits in the interview.

Caption 9, Andreas Bourani - Startet durch
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To say that something is "advantageous" or "beneficial," we can use the German adjective vorteilhaft. The opposite of that would be nachteilig or unvorteilhaft. We can also create an adjective by including the word von before the noun:

Und es wär' dann schon von Vorteil zu sagen:

And it would then be advantageous to say:

OK, ich kann die Vorlesung halt eben auch daheim anschauen.

OK, I can also just watch the lecture at home.

Captions 25-26, KIT, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie - Umfrage: Was bedeutet barrierefrei?
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