Thumbnail Image

文法の投稿シリーズ7 - nicht ..., sondern ... / not ..., rather ...

Dietz

How you ever wondered about how to use rather and how to express this case in German?
In general we use this grammar in order to correct a statement, indicating that the second statement is more accurate than the first.
This happens quite often, let's assume we saying x and in the same time you recognise yourself, that y is more accurate for describing the situation. 
E.g. It's not cool today, rather, it's almost cold. 
(When writing this, it's almost end of october, and it sometimes happens, that's not only chilly, at late hours it's getting already quite cold.)
In German we use the grammar "nicht ..., sondern ...".
Es ist heute nicht kühl, sondern kalt.
A bit more going with the flow, we would say:
Es ist heute nicht etwa kühl, sondern eher kalt.  
In Japanese we would use 「というより」.
今日は涼しいというより、寒いくらいだ。

Added to Saved

This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

Lesson

Learn German with songs

30 min
1,200 Points

Comments (0)

Login to Comment Log in »
Recommend ribbon

from:

in:

Lesson Categories

Language Fluency

German   Native
English   Near-Native
Spanish   Fluent
Japanese   Proficient
French   Daily conversation
Portuguese   Just a few words

Dietz's Most Popular Columns

« Back to List of Tutor's Column
Got a question? Click to Chat