So what does "doch" mean anyway?

[IdiotsOpposite]

one life isn't enough to learn german

Doch!

I'd translate that but unfortunately the word has no satisfying translation.

Metatron's answer was already excellent as always.

To expand on it a little: don't expect the political debate to actually consider policies from a religious perspective, even in social issues that almost automatically get this treatment in the American political discourse. That doesn't mean that there are no politicians whose actions are religiously motivated; the Christian Democratic party for example does justify its social agenda with terms like the "Christian idea of man" or phrases its environmentalism with "preservation of creation" in its official program. But this is only used in the rather intellectual process of drafting these programs that nobody reads anyway, the terms itself are completely absent from public debate.

And even that mirrors only a minority of the Christian Democrats. Most are members or supporters of this party because they're conservative (by German standards), close to corporations or from rural areas where they're strong traditionally.

And that is only one party, which currently polls at ~35%. Except for some Lutheran elements in the Green party, I can't think of any religious affiliation in the others.

Also, I wouldn't be to impressed by "atheism rankings" and similar surveys. Even if there's still a majority that answers questions like "do you believe in God or the supernatural" with yes, this belief is much less institutionalized and people don't extract an ideology or political opinions from their beliefs.


Most lacking word in the English language ever!

I guess one semi-translation might be "Indeed!", but even that fails to satisfy the connotations.

"You're wrong, it is!" is probably the best translation. Only so polysyllabic

Now this probably doesn't deserve a thread, but as a former student of German, I really am interested in this. What REALLY is the best translation of the weird German word "doch"?

 

[Monsterzuma]

"on the contrary"?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Theer is no simple one word translation.
It's the opposite of Nein (no) when you're disagreeing with somebody.
"Yes, it is" might be the best literal translation.

 

[emzie]

A contradiction to a negative statement. "On the contrary" gets the point across.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

A contradiction to a negative statement. "On the contrary" gets the point across.

Yes, 'on the contrary' can mean 'doch', but 'doch' can't be used to contradict positive statements.
I'm sure there's some lesson to be learned here about Germans for having a simple one syllable word for this.

 

[civver_764]

It's one of the few areas where I like German better than English haha.

 

[mitsho]

Leo.org says still, however and yet.

So there's several different meanings, as usual

 

[Lillefix]

My guess:

It's the positive answer to a negative question.

Did he walk on the moon? Ja, he did.
Didn't he walk on the moon? Doch, he did.

In French they use si in stead of oui in this situation, I think.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Yes, 'on the contrary' can mean 'doch', but 'doch' can't be used to contradict positive statements.
I'm sure there's some lesson to be learned here about Germans for having a simple one syllable word for this.

They still need four letters to our two in "Jo"

"It is!" seems to come pretty close to the meaning though.

 

[warpus]

It depends on the context, right?

"Das ist ja doch ein schoener kopf" translates to
"That is a pretty nice head" but maybe a better translation would be "That is a pretty nice head, don't you agree?" I haven't been fully fluent in the language for a while, so that might be a bit off

 

[holy king]

nobody can ever fully understand the doch.

it's one of the last big mysteries of our universe.

 

[metatron]

nobody can ever fully understand the doch.

'fraid so...

Spoiler :

Link to video.

 

[Part_Time_Civer]

G: Ich bin doch nicht blöd!
E: I aint stupid, am I?

G: Sie sind doch Herr Müller?
E: You're mr Müller, right?

G: Das macht mann doch nicht!
E: You can't do that sort of thing!

G: Sind die Ammi's auf den Mond gewesen? Doch, sind se!
E: Did the yanks get to the moon? Yeah, they did!

I guess the meaning depends on the context...

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I was taught that doch was used when answering questions that answering yes or no to would make your answer ambiguous. For example, if I say "Don't you have any money?" (hast du kein Geld?) and you were to answer "ja" or "nein," then it wouldn't be clear if you did or didn't have any money! But if you answer "doch," then it's very clear that you disagree with the statement and mean to say that the opposite is true instead.

 

[Part_Time_Civer]

I was taught that doch was used when answering questions that answering yes or no to would make your answer ambiguous. For example, if I say "Don't you have any money?" (hast du kein Geld?) and you were to answer "ja" or "nein," then it wouldn't be clear if you did or didn't have any money! But if you answer "doch," then it's very clear that you disagree with the statement and mean to say that the opposite is true instead.

Correct, this is similar to my 4th example (note that if you would answer simply "nein" it would be clear enough, only add "doch" if you answer yes).
Still, I can't find an english word that fits all the bills so to speak...

 

[Part_Time_Civer]

Now that I think of it: the words "true" and "truly" are closest.

In my previous examples:

G: Ich bin doch nicht blöd!
E: Truly, I aint stupid!

G: Sie sind doch Herr Müller?
E: You're mr Müller, true?

G: Das macht mann doch nicht!
E: You can't truly do that sort of thing!

G: Sind die Ammi's auf den Mond gewesen? Doch, sind se!
E: Did the yanks get to the moon? True, they did!

 

[mayor]

"on the contrary"?

This is actually the Dutch meaning of the word

 

[Leoreth]

G: Sind die Ammi's auf den Mond gewesen? Doch, sind se!
E: Did the yanks get to the moon? True, they did!

That one doesn't work. You can only use it to react to negative statements. But I like your colloquial inflection

"Doch" is a favourite children's word, by the way. You can often find it in these infinite recursive arguments:

A: "Du bist blöd!" ("You're stupid!")
B: "Nein, bin ich nicht!" ("No, I'm not!")
A: "Doch!" ("Yes (, you are)!")
B: "Nein!" ("No (, I'm not)!")
A: "Doch!"
B: "Nein!"
(repeat until one kid gives up)

 

[civ2]

"Yes", or mostly "Suuuuure..!" aka "Yeah, riiight..!"

 

[Leoreth]

It has more of a decisive rather than a sarcastic undertone. "Yeah, right " is more like "Ja, genau ".