Si and Doch ....

Si and Doch, the first word is French and the second is German. You say them after someone made a negative statement. The closest translation in English would be, ¨on the contrary

Je ne parle pas Anglais. - Mais si! Tu parles Anglais!

I do not speak German so I cannot give you a German example of this negation in action. My question is this, can anyone tell me about any other languages that also have this? Please feel free to post directly on this blog.

2 comments:

georgia said...

German example: Schmeckt es nicht?-Doch, die Suppe ist fantastisch.
As for greek, the equivalent phrase is: "κι όμως" which literally means "and but".

Kim said...

In Swedish, we say "jo". For example:

Jag pratar inte engelska. - Jo, det gör du visst det!

We also have "nä", it's the same thing only negative. For example:

Jag pratar engelska. - Nä, det gör du inte alls det!

Anthropoligist In Heels Top Posts