Wort des Tages - "doch"

Hello everyone, 

and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we will take a look at the meaning of:

doch (pron.: dogh for now) 

Doch is one those words that give non-natives a really hard time. It has a million  and no translation at the same time, it is even hard to formulate a single concept for it. Yet the Germans are all doch-in‘ it out, when they talk and there is never any confusing as to which doch is intended. Today I will try to boil down this shape-shifter to as few basic concepts as possible.

I am certainly not the first one trying to explain doch. In fact there are scientific books about how to teach words like doch, kaum, halt or schon. The grammatical term for them is particles. Doch can also be an adverb or a conjunction, but let’s forget all the jargon and focus on meaning.
As I said, I am going to try to boil it down as much as possible. My main 3 sources for possible meanings are: my brain, Duden.de and Pons.de (be prepared for some serious scrolling when you go to Pons). Although all these sources are really high quality… … …what’s that weird smell… puh… like … self praise…  although the 2 official sources are really high quality, I have to say this:

 Disclaimer: This post may not be exhaustive and may contain unclear explanation.
The author can not be held responsible by the reader for any experience of being corrected,
laughed at or not understood that occurred due to failed attempts to use the word doch. Use at one's own risk.

So yeah, if you feel like I forgot something or my explanation is not clear, please let me know.
Last thing before we start. If you look at Duden or Pons or any other discussion board or dictionary you might realize that my system here is pretty different. If you disagree with things I say, you are really welcome to comment on this. I am totally open for discussion. I just tried to make as few and coherent categories as possible. It is not necessarily the most precise.

That said let’s get to it. First let me say this: there is no such word as doch in English. Doch translates mostly to some certain phrasing. Different dictionaries offer different phrasings so the best approach is to try to understand the “vibe” doch adds to the sentence.

DOCH – COUNTERING A NEGATIVE STATEMENT

First let’s look at the main meaning of doch. As this is so important I have decided to seek external expertise. Thomas and Christian are both students at the Berlin elementary school and are known for their heated discussions. We have the exclusive permission to use one of those debates.

Ich bin klüger als du. Nein, bist du nicht. Doch, bin ich doch. Nein, bist du nicht. Doch! Nein. Doch.

I am smarter than you. No, you are not. Yes I am. No, are not. Am too! No. Yes.

Doch is THE word to counter a negative statement. This is the main meaning of doch. Of course it doesn’t have to be that obvious. Let’s look at some more subtle examples.

• Ich habe morgen Zeit.
• I have time tomorrow.
• Ich habe morgen doch Zeit.
• I do have time tomorrow (although I originally though I wouldn’t).

• Der Film gefällt mir.
• I like the movie.
• Der Film gefällt mir doch.
• I do like the movie (although I thought I wouldn’t)

So in these sentences doch is inverting a negative. The negative hasn’t been stated but the doch let’s you know it was there. The next examples extend this meaning of doch a bit as seem it is not inverting a positive rather than a negative.

• Ich habe doch keinen Hunger mehr.
• Actually, I am not hungry anymore (although I thought/ made you think I was).

• Ich gehe doch nicht ins Kino.
• I won’t go to the movies after all (although I originally thought I would).

• Ich komme doch erst am Mittwoch zurück.
• Turns out, I will be back only by Wednesday after all. (there was a time, when I thought I would be back on Tuesday).

So how does this fit in the inverting a negative meaning? Well you can look at it as if the statement was a double negative. For the examples above this would be:

•  I do not have no hunger. – I DO have no hunger.
• I will not “not go” to the movies. – I will, in fact, “not go” to the movies.
• I will not “not return” on Tuesday – I will return on Wednesday, so YES, not on Tuesday.

So the doch is sort of inverting a negative but this might be a little abstract.

So maybe we could summarize as follows

Doch is the proper answer to counter a negative statement with the positive opposite as in “No, not – Yes, too.” “Nein.- Doch.”.
Doch can furthermore be used whenever you state something and the statement is the opposite of what has been thought of or stated before …
BY YOU. This is important. Doch expresses that you whatever fact you state is NEW to you and you thought it would be different if not contrary. If you never thought you would be back on Tuesday, the example above isn’t proper unless you lied and pretended to think you could make it.
So if you want to express: “Something is like this, but I thought it would be different till now.” you can use doch. Actually you ought to use doch. If you don’t you are not expression that this information is new to you.

• Thomas kommt nicht zur Party.
• Thomas won’t come to the party.
• Thomas kommt doch nicht zur Party.
• Thomas won’t come to the party after all. (although I originally thought he would)

The first sentence is just stating the fact that Thomas won’t come. The second one states the fact that he won’t come plus the fact that this is contrary to what has been thought so far. These 2 things are different and if you want to say the second, you NEED doch. There is not really another way to express it.

Doch is not proper however to counter a positive statement that you never agreed with. So this is wrong:

• “Ich bin klug.”
• “Doch, bist du nicht.” / “Du bist doch nicht klug.”

While this is correct:

• “2+2 = ?”
• “Uhm 5??”
• “Oh, also bist du doch nicht klug.”

Here the person was of the opinion that the other person was smart. New info contradicts this impression, hence the new fact, that the other person is not smart, is stated with doch.

DOCH – THE QUESTIONIZER – TONE DOWN STATEMENTS

Doch often tones the sentence in a way, that can be reproduced by adding a question in English. There is different occasions to do that. One is if you want to soften statements that would sound too direct, demanding or rough without toning them down.
(In the following examples the second English sentence is the version with doch)

• Wir gehen ein Bier trinken. Komm (doch) mit!
• We are going  to have a beer. Join us!
• … . Come on, join us. / … . Wanne join us? / Why don’t you join us.

• Denk (doch) mal nach!
• Think for once!
• Think for once,… why not?

• Sei (doch) endlich still!
• Shut up, for god’s sake!
• Shut up now, will you!

The second example is still pretty rough even with the doch... but it is toned down a little in as far as that the doch stresses the fact that the person talking is really desperately waiting for the other one to shut up.

In other explanations the doch in the last example as well as some of the following are called intensifiers. Though it is certainly not wrong in some cases I chose not to go with this category. In my opinion the cases when doch intensifies are also marked by intonation. The written version does not necessarily sound intensified to me. This is for example the case with the last example we had.

DOCH – THE QUESTIONIZER – SEEKING AFFIRMATION

Another occasion where the tone of doch is best captured with a question is when you want the other person to agree with you, be it because you are uncertain, you want him or her to share your surprise or you want them to agree because it it so obvious to you. The German sentence looks like a statement. and withoutdoch it is nothing more but the doch gives it a certain hunger for affirmation or response, without really asking anything openly.

• Wir können (doch) heute Abend zum Beispiel eine DVD gucken.
• We can watch a DVD tonight.
• We could watch a DVD tonight. Why not?/ Why not watch a DVD tonight.

• Du weißt (doch), wie sehr ich Pizza hasse.
• You know how much I hate pizza.
• Come on. You do know how much hate pizza. (Yes? Good, so why did you bring me here to this pizza place????)

• Guck mal, das da drüben sind (doch) dein Professor.
• Look, that is your professor over there.
• Look, it’s your professor over there now, isn’t it? (What a coincidence)

• Mein neues Kleid ist (doch) schön.
• My new dress is nice.
• So… my new dress is quite nice, don’t you think? (Agree with me please!!!)

•  Ich habe dir (doch) gesagt, das der Film langweilig ist.
• I did tell you, the movie was gonna be boring.
• See, I did tell you that the movie was gonna be boring before, didn’t I? (Concede that I was right please!!!)

• Super Bowl? Das ist (doch) total langweilig.
• Super Bowl? That is totally boring.
• Super Bowl? That IS totally boring, come on! (You must agree with me on that!!! / Or is it not after all??? )

• Du kannst (doch) nicht ohne Training einen Marathon laufen.
• You cannot run a marathon without training.
• Oh please / come on. You can’t run a marathon without training. (Do you really think you can???)

The reasons why you seek affirmation can be different but what all the examples have in common, at least in my opinion, is that they are more than just a statement of a fact. Doch makes a statement into a statement that you want  the people to agree with … be it because you are in doubt, because you want to for them to be aware of the fact you said or because you think it is obvious.

DOCH – MEANING DEPENDS ON INTONATION

You can say the Super Bowl sentence in a way, that you sound totally convinced and you can say it in a way that you think it is and you are now surprised to hear someone implying something else.
This dependency on melody and intonation applies for doch as a whole.

• Thomas kommt doch nicht zu spät.

This sentence can mean 3 things.

• So Thomas will NOT come late after all.
• Thomas won’t be late, will he?
• Thomas? HE will not be late, come on.

The first one is a inverting-doch. The person who said the sentence was of the opinion Thomas was going to be late until new info indicates that he will make it in time…  To get this meaning you need to stress the doch pretty strongly.
The second sentence is an expression of uncertainty. Here the stress is on spät and the voice carries the idea of uncertainty. It is a statement but it sounds a bit like a question.
The third example is expressing that Thomas is such a punctual guy that it should be clear that he is not going to be late, how can someone not know that. The stress is on Thomas and on spät and the voice sounds certain.

This is a pretty long post and I hope you can still concentrate but there is one more meaning to come.

DOCH – YET AND BUT

As if there wasn’t enough already, doch is also used in sense of yet and but. I am not an English native so I am not certain as to how close these 2 words are but for a German they kind of have overlapping parts… and one of them is doch.

•  Ich bin müde, doch ich muss diesen Post zuende lesen.
• I am tired but I have to finish reading this post.

• Ich rede schnell und doch deutlich.
• I speak fast and yet clearly.

So… this was the longest post so far. To sum it up, doch is the proper answer in the Yes-No game, it can be used to invert statements, it can mean either yet or but, it can tone down statements and it can turn a mere statement into a statement that seeks affirmation… for whatever reason.

I really hope this is helpful for you. If you have any questions just leave me a comment. If you totally disagree with me, please leave me a comment. If I have forgotten something, please leave me a comment. I will add it to the article, if necessary. And if you have seen a unicorn, please leave me a comment too.

I hope you liked it and see you next time… with something easier… like Auto or  Computer… kidding.. it won’t be something that obvious :)