# German-speaking Dopers: translation help, please? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063 "2014-09-10T12:54:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/1 "2014-09-10T12:54:44Z")
I need a short two-sentence piece of dialogue translated into German. English: **"Please don’t take that. I need it."** Google Translate gives me: **"Nehmen Sie bitte nicht, dass. Ich brauche es."** But we all know Google Translate can sometimes turn out things that are technically correct, but somewhat stiff-sounding. Would any German-speaking Dopers weigh in on how you would translate that? I know German has formal and familiar second-person pronouns, but I don’t know how they’re used. Assume the speaker is speaking to a familiar peer. Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/2 "2014-09-10T12:59:35Z")
The sentence is not even technically correct. Assuming you’re using “du” (familiar), a possible translation would be: “Bitte nimm das nicht. Ich brauche es.” Note that “du” is not synonymous with, say, addressing a colleague by first name. Depending on the environment, you would usually “sie” a colleague, even if you know him or her fairly well. In that case it would become “Bitte nehmen Sie das nicht. Ich brauche es.” A bit more context might also help to make it a little more informal-sounding, but that’s a start. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/3 "2014-09-10T13:01:11Z")
If it’s familiar, you wouldn’t say Sie, you would say Du. _Nehmst Du das nicht von mir._ My German is about twenty years old, but FWIW. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/4 "2014-09-10T13:02:11Z")
For somebody you’re on first name basis with, you’d use ‘du’ rather than ‘sie’, so the literal translation would be: “Nimm das bitte nicht. Ich brauche es noch.” (The ‘du’ here is implicit in the form of the verb, ‘nimm’ as opposed to ‘nehmen sie’.) That would work, but it sounds somewhat awkwardly phrased to me. It would perhaps be more natural to say something like “Lass das bitte hier, ich brauche es noch.” (“Please leave it here, I still need it.”), or maybe in the form of a question, “Kannst du das bitte hier lassen? Ich brauche es noch.” (“Can you please leave it here? I need it.”). Perhaps if you could supply some context, one could find a better formulation… ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/5 "2014-09-10T13:06:30Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > That would work, but it sounds somewhat awkwardly phrased to me. It would perhaps be more natural to say something like “Lass das bitte hier, ich brauche es noch.” (“Please leave it here, I still need it.”), or maybe in the form of a question, “Kannst du das bitte hier lassen? Ich brauche es noch.” (“Can you please leave it here? I need it.”). Perhaps if you could supply some context, one could find a better formulation… Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/6 "2014-09-10T13:36:07Z")
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far. Here’s some context: Person 1 is tied to a chair in his own efficiency apartment, having been subdued and tied there by Person 2, a (former) friend. Person 2 is currently rifling the contents of Person 1’s home in plain view of the latter, who is helpless to stop him and only hoping that Person 2 doesn’t mean to kill him after plundering his house. From a medicine cabinet, Person 2 produces a bottle of pills: the antipsychotic prescription that is the only thing that shuts up the voices and enables Person 1 to keep his thin hold on reality. Not knowing what “Risperidone” is, but inferring nonetheless from the warnings on the bottle that it must be something heavy-duty, or at least expensive, Person 2 goes to pocket the bottle. In spite of his fear for his life, Person 1 is so afraid of being without his meds that he calls out, plaintively, **“Please don’t take that. I need it.”** Without meaning to, he has reverted to the German of his childhood to do so. Does that help? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/7 "2014-09-10T13:48:38Z")
That context does help. Using “Sie” here would be completely out of the question. In that case, I would say: “Bitte nimm die nicht. Die brauch ich.” Note I’m using the plural (the pills). Alternatively you could say “Bitte nimm das nicht. Das brauch ich.” ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/8 "2014-09-10T14:45:03Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > That context does help. Using “Sie” here would be completely out of the question. In that case, I would say: > > “Bitte nimm die nicht. Die brauch ich.” > > Note I’m using the plural (the pills). Alternatively you could say “Bitte nimm das nicht. Das brauch ich.” Thank you so much! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-speaking-dopers-translation-help-please/698063/9 "2014-09-12T04:22:53Z")
FWIW the _Sie_ imperative is almost always the same as an infinitive, and in the context of brief instructions or commands, like on signs, there is no pronoun even though the “Du” imperative is clearly not being used. For example, _Bitte nicht rauchen!_ is equivalent to “No Smoking”, though the literal translation is “please not to smoke”. Or in the U-Bahn stations, the loudspeakers often carry the warning to stay back, or _Zurückbleiben!_ I don’t know if these sorts of expressions originated as _Sie_-imperatives in which the _Sie_ was initially included, though.