What does the German word "doch" mean?

 

Will McChesney

Doch is my favorite German word. I really wish we had an equivalent in English, but we don’t. To explain, I’ll start off with a riddle for native English speakers.

Imagine a friend comes up to you, and asks, in English:

“So you’re not coming to the party?”

But you are! You are going to the party! How do you correct her in a single word?

It’s not possible. Think about it:

• If you say “yes,” she might think you mean “yes, you’re right, I’m not coming to the party.”
• If you say “no,” she might think you mean “no, I’m not coming to the party.”

In practice, most English speakers I ask tell me they’d just repeat the phrase. “I am, actually.” “No, I am coming.” Or “yeah, I am coming to the party.” What a mouthful!

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Now imagine the friend re-asks the question in German:

“Kommst also nicht zur Party?”

Remember, you are coming to the party! It’s easy to correct her:

“Doch.”

Doch is the word used to correct someone when they falsely assumed the negative, just like nein is the word used to correct someone when they falsely assumed the positive:

Kommst also zur Party? (“So you’re coming to the party?”)
Nein, leider nicht. Ich habe zu viel zu tun. (“No, sorry. I’m too busy.”)

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I actually think the closest English word to this usage of doch is one that disappears from most native English speakers’ vocabulary around the age of 7 or 8. Imagine two kids arguing on the preschool playground:

“I have infinity-thousand-million dollars.”
“Nuh-uh!” (Hast du nicht!)
“Yuh-huh!” (Doch, habe ich!)

The French have si, the Germans have doch, the kindergartners have yuh-huh, and we snooty, English-speaking adults have nothing. I say we flaunt our loss in the linguistic lottery, and embrace our inner child. Or learn German, ya know!

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For the sake of being comprehensive, I’ll add that doch has other meanings as well.

• Es hat also doch nicht geregnet, obwohl es in der Wettervorhersage stand.
  (“So it didn’t end up raining after all, even though they forecasted it to.”)
• Sie kam mir sehr sympathisch vor, doch auch irgendwie ein bisschen traurig.
  (“She seemed very nice, yet a little sad somehow, too.”)

Translating it as a particle within a phrase can be a little slippery. Often it doesn’t have a direct correspondence in English, and ends up coming over more in the tone of the sentence as a whole.

• Wie es aussieht wird Donald Trump doch nicht der nächste Präsident. — Habe ich doch gesagt.
  (“Looks like Donald Trump won’t be our next president after all.” — “I tried to tell you.”)
• Mama, in den Sommerferien sollten wir eine Reise nach New York machen! — Junge, du weißt doch, dass wir uns dieses Jahr keinen Urlaub leisten können.
  (“Mom, we should go to New York over summer break!” — “Son, you know we can’t afford a vacation this year.”)
• Soll ich dir zeigen, wie das geht? — Schaffe ich alleine, ich bin doch kein Kind mehr.
  (“Want me to show you how?” — “I can do it by myself, I’m not a little kid any more.”)
• Sei doch endlich mal still.
  (“Oh, will you be quiet.”)
• Du schreibst mir doch, oder? — Natürlich.
  (“You will write me, won’t you?” — “Of course.”)
• Dann danke ich Ihnen, Herr Obama, für die Hilfe. — Ach, sag doch du zu mir. Ich bin Barack.
  (“Thanks for the help, Mr. Obama.” — “Aw, you can call me Barack.”)