# How would a German-speaking person say "Goodbye forever"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532 "2014-04-07T05:53:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/21 "2014-04-07T19:18:43Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Austrians speak German, FTR. Some would say that they speak a form of German! ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/22 "2014-04-07T22:23:21Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m going to start doing that. i like it as well. departure! (door slam!) is there no form of “be gone with you?” or “i said good day!”? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/23 "2014-04-09T17:24:00Z")
Would a simple “_auf nimmer_” be at all comprehensible? ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/24 "2014-04-09T19:24:09Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Would a simple “_auf nimmer_” be at all comprehensible? Yes. As would other non-standard expressions like “I’m out” or “Finito”. That’s not in the spirit of the OP though. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/25 "2014-04-09T22:05:08Z")
Lebwohl. I think of the American “Have a nice life” in the same sense of finality. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/26 "2014-04-11T04:06:16Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > . . . or to one person you address in the archaic _Ihr_ mode, it would be _Lebt wohl_. Wait, _Ihr_ is archaic? When did this happen? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/27 "2014-04-11T04:54:07Z")
I’m not fluent in German, but [Beethoven’s piano sonata in E-flat major Op. 81a, “Les Adieux,”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Adieux) was the first thing that sprang to mind. The first three chords are the German word “_Lebewohl_” set to music. That specific sequence of notes is known in the classical music biz as the “horn chords,” because those are the notes produced by a pair of (valveless) French horns playing their overtone series. Incidentally, the same harmonic/melodic motif played in reverse and then forward again gives rise to Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” theme. À propos the OP question, Beethoven “titled the three movements ‘Lebewohl,’ ‘Abwesenheit,’ and ‘Wiedersehen,’ and reportedly regarded the French ‘Adieux’ (said to whole assemblies or cities) as a poor translation of the feeling of the German ‘Lebewohl’ (said heartfully to a single person).” And that’s how I knew the correct answer would be “_Lebewohl_”—literally ‘live well,’ right? ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/28 "2014-04-11T06:25:53Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Wait, _Ihr_ is archaic? When did this happen? Addressing more than one person (in the informal mode) as _Ihr_ is standard, but addressing one person as _Ihr_ is an archaic mode of address to a person of superior estate. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/29 "2014-04-11T07:09:04Z")
So is their a non-archaic formal, as opposed to informal, mode of addressing one person? When I was in school (in the 1970s) the use of _Ihr_ in this context was treated as formal, but not archaic. (I.e. in formal setting it was the expected mode.) ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/30 "2014-04-11T08:18:47Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > So is their a non-archaic formal, as opposed to informal, mode of addressing one person? When I was in school (in the 1970s) the use of _Ihr_ in this context was treated as formal, but not archaic. (I.e. in formal setting it was the expected mode.) You probably remember the _Sie_, rather than the _Ihr_ usage. _Du_/singular [current]: addressing a single person, informally. Farewell: _Lebewohl_. (verb for using this form: _duzen_) _Sie_/plural [current]: addressing a single person, formally. Farewell: _Leben Sie wohl_. (verb for using this form: _siezen_) _Ihr_/plural [archaic, pre 20th c]: addressing a single person, either a social superior or an equal in a formal/lofty context. Farewell: _Lebt wohl_. (verb for using this form: _ihrzen_) _Er_/_Sie_/singular [very archaic, pre 19th c]: addressing a single, socially inferior person, typically a servant. Farewell: _Lebe er wohl/Lebe sie wohl_. (verb for using this form: _erzen_) _Ihr_/plural [current]: addressing more than one person, informally. Farewell: _Lebt wohl_. _Sie_/plural [current]: addressing more than one person, formally. Farewell: _Leben Sie wohl_. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/31 "2014-04-11T08:28:39Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > You probably remember the _Sie_, rather than the _Ihr_ usage. You’re quite right; I do. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/32 "2014-04-11T09:03:27Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > _Ihr_/plural [current]: addressing more than one person, informally. Farewell: _Lebt wohl_. > _Sie_/plural [current]: addressing more than one person, formally. Farewell: _Leben Sie wohl_. I had no clue there was a plural formal form. ---
**Author:** ![Remember\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Remember\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remember_me)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/33 "2014-04-11T09:54:13Z")
There is no difference between using “Sie” to address one person formally or a whole group of persons. I believe in French it is more or less the same with “vous”. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/34 "2014-04-11T12:29:42Z")
It would be so much easier if everyone spoke American like normal people. And I wish my German went beyond speisekarte Deutsch. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/35 "2014-04-11T13:41:03Z")
It’s all quite simple…it’s _riechen Sie später für immer._ It’s “Smell you later forever.” But probably not too correct, it’s just from google translate. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532/36 "2014-04-11T13:58:24Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > The closest to English “farewell” would be _Lebewohl_. Is “farewell” how one says “good-bye forever” in English? 🙂 No, seriously, I wouldn’t have known that, and I doubt most American English speakers would, either. It certainly sounds more final than “good-bye”, but I wouldn’t have thought that it could only mean “good-bye forever”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-speaking-person-say-goodbye-forever/685532.md?page=1)