nicht wahr?
/nɪçt vaːr/word by word
The English phrase "I know, right?" can be expressed in German using nicht wahr?
The phrase is used to agree with someone and emphasize that you share their opinion.
Which one should you use?
Stimmt! is a very common, natural way to express agreement with a statement in a way that mirrors the sentiment of "I know, right?" In spoken German, the tag oder? is frequently used at the end of a sentence as a shorthand for nicht wahr? to seek agreement, similar to how "right?" is used in English.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
The expression Stimmt! is informal, and oder? is colloquial. For an informal way to say "I know, right?" or "I know, huh?", you can use Ich weiß, ne?
Is it said differently in some regions?
In southern Germany, one may hear the variation I woaß, gell? to express "I know, right?"
How do you pronounce it?
/nɪçt vaːr/
Did you know?
- The colloquial tag ne? is actually a tiny, highly compressed version of the word nein, which means 'no'.
- The word nicht is originally a combination of two words meaning 'never' and 'being' or 'creature'.
- If you use the Southern German gell? instead of oder?, you might accidentally signal that you are from Bavaria or Austria.
Example conversation
Lukas and Hannah are talking about a movie they just watched.
- LukasDer Film war viel zu lang.The movie was way too long.
- HannahOh ja, nicht wahr?Oh yes, right?
- LukasIch bin fast eingeschlafen.I almost fell asleep.
- HannahDas ging mir auch so.I felt the same way.
Sources
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (nicht, wahr) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries nicht, wahr, CC BY-SA 4.0.
