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The prepositional negation nicht ohne

The standard negation in German — when you say that something is "not" by using nicht — is relatively straightforward for native English speakers. Although its placement in a sentence may differ from English, often falling at the end of a sentence (Ich liebe dich... nicht!), it usually parallels the use of the English word "not." A standard German phrase combined with the preposition ohne ("without") might read:

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Das ist nicht ohne Risiko.

This is not without risk.

Caption 14, Die letzten Paradiese - Die Schönheit der Alpen 1

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Nee, nee, nee, mein Lieber, nicht ohne dich.

No, no, no, my dear, not without you.

Caption 75, Großstadtrevier - St. Pauli rettet HSV

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Und da bin ich nicht ohne Sorge.

And there I'm not without worries.

Caption 60, Holocaust-Gedenktag - Gespräch mit jüdischen Schülern

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Note that in the above cases, the phrase nicht ohne has an object that defines what is lacking, in the above examples Risiko, dich, and Sorge respectively. But what does it mean when somebody says nicht ohne without an object? To say "Oh, that's not without" in English is a sentence fragment with no clear meaning.

 

To say nicht ohne with no defined object in German, however, is an idiomatic or slang usage that has been in use since at least the 17th century, according to the Redensarten-Index website. To leave a word out of a sentence is what's known in linguistics as an ellipsis. This particular ellipsis is more difficult to immediately understand than most of those in English, however. 

 

Ein Radfahrer... Das ist nicht ohne.

A bicyclist... That is difficult.

Caption 22, Knallerfrauen - Mathehausaufgaben

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Mein Fahrgestell ist nämlich auch nicht ganz ohne.

My undercarriage isn't exactly without its dangers, either.

Caption 27, Oskar - Gehen, wenn es am schönsten ist - Nur die Liebe zählt

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Thus, depending upon the specific context, the phrase nicht ohne can mean that something is difficult, dangerous, or to be taken seriously.

 

Further Learning
Read the above link for the Redensarten-Index and search for more examples of nicht ohne on Yabla German to see other ways that the phrase can be used in German sentences.

French Words Used in German, Part 2

Like English, 45% of which comes from French or Latin language sources, German has many French loan words or Gallicisms. If you can learn to recognize words in your native English as having a French origin, there is a fair chance that they are used in German. 

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In last week's lesson, we took a look at some of the more commonly used German words with a French origin. These have obvious French word endings such as -ment, -ion, or -age. This week, let's take a look at some more French-derived words in German that also have English counterparts.

 

Vor genau sechsundsechzig Jahren befreite die Rote Armee die Überlebenden des Nazi-Vernichtungslagers Auschwitz.

Exactly sixty-six years ago the Red Army liberated the survivors of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz.

Captions 1-2, Holocaust-Gedenktag - Gespräch mit jüdischen Schülern

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The German word for "army," die Armee, comes from the French word armée. Note that the German capitalizes the noun as per German grammar rules and has dropped the accented letter E. 

 

„Die Süßigkeit“ ist etwas Süßes: Gummibär, Kaugummi, Bonbon.

"Candy" is something sweet: a gummy bear, a [piece of] chewing gum, a bonbon.

Caption 6, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Verben der 3. Kategorie - Part 2

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The German Bonbon can be the masculine der but is most commonly the neuter das. The French bonbon is literally "good good," from what a child might say when they see some candy!

 

Aktualisieren Sie bitte das Budget.

Please update the budget.

Caption 47, Berufsleben - das Vorstellungsgespräch

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Das Budget is the same word "budget" in French and English as well, though the French and German both render the T silent.

 

Ein bisschen Weihnachtsdekoration, so Engel... -Dekoration, ja.

A little bit of Christmas decoration, such angels... -Decoration, yes.

Captions 22-23, Unterwegs mit Cettina - auf dem Bruchsaler Weihnachtsmarkt

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The word "decoration" in English is closer to the French décoration, but then most hard C sounds in German utilize the letter K!

 

Das ist tatsächlich ein Hotel in Berlin mit einem ganz verrückten Konzept.

This is, in fact, a hotel in Berlin with a completely crazy concept.

Caption 2, Berlin - Indoor-Camping im „Hüttenpalast“

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The French word hôtel is spelled with a circumflex accent on the O, and of course pronounced entirely differently.

 

Ich bin bei der Firma SAC Applikations-Ingenieur.

I am an applications engineer for the company SAC.

Caption 2, Bildverarbeitung - Sirius Advanced Cybernetics in Pforzheim

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The German der Ingenieur provides another fairly rare example of the soft G pronunciation in German. It's spelled nearly the same as the French ingénieur

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Further Learning
As a general rule, French words found in German are spelled the same, or nearly the same, as the French words found in English, but are pronounced in a German manner and written according to German grammatical rules—with nouns capitalized, for example. Take a look at this list of Gallicisms in German and go to Yabla German to find other real-world examples of the words used in videos.