Question about nämlich

[leosmith]

I felt that nämlich would usually translate as "because", rather than "namely", in the stuff that I read, so I asked chatgpt - do you agree with the following translations?

"Ich gehe nicht zum Training, nämlich weil ich krank bin." (I'm not going to practice, because I'm sick.)
"Sie hat viel gearbeitet, nämlich ist sie jetzt erschöpft." (She worked a lot, so she's exhausted now.)
"Das war ein sehr langer Tag, nämlich sehr stressig." (That was a very long day, and I mean very stressful.)
"Du warst das nämlich!" (You were the one, indeed!)
"Wir müssen uns beeilen, nämlich der Zug fährt in 15 Minuten." (We need to hurry because the train is leaving in 15 minutes.)
"Er hat keine Zeit für seine Familie, nämlich lebt er alleine." (He doesn't have time for his family, so he lives alone.)

[Doitsujin]

I felt that nämlich would usually translate as "because", rather than "namely", in the stuff that I read, so I asked chatgpt - do you agree with the following translations?

"Ich gehe nicht zum Training, nämlich weil ich krank bin." (I'm not going to practice, because I'm sick.)
"Sie hat viel gearbeitet, nämlich ist sie jetzt erschöpft." (She worked a lot, so she's exhausted now.)
"Das war ein sehr langer Tag, nämlich sehr stressig." (That was a very long day, and I mean very stressful.)
"Du warst das nämlich!" (You were the one, indeed!)
"Wir müssen uns beeilen, nämlich der Zug fährt in 15 Minuten." (We need to hurry because the train is leaving in 15 minutes.)
"Er hat keine Zeit für seine Familie, nämlich lebt er alleine." (He doesn't have time for his family, so he lives alone.)

ChatGPT lied. All translations are unacceptable.

"Ich gehe nicht zum Training, nämlich weil ich krank bin."
"Sie hat viel gearbeitet, nämlich deshalb ist sie jetzt erschöpft."
"Das war ein sehr langer Tag, nämlich und zwar sehr stressig." (grammatically correct, but unidiomatic)
"Du warst das nämlich!" (with stress on the Du)
"Wir müssen uns beeilen, nämlich denn der Zug fährt in 15 Minuten."
"Er hat keine Zeit für seine Familie, nämlich denn lebt er alleine."

As a rule of thumb, don't use "nämlich" in German unless you mean "namely."

[Kraut]

I felt that nämlich would usually translate as "because", rather than "namely", in the stuff that I read, so I asked chatgpt - do you agree with the following translations?

"Ich gehe nicht zum Training, nämlich weil ich krank bin." (I'm not going to practice, because I'm sick.)
"Sie hat viel gearbeitet, nämlich ist sie jetzt erschöpft." (She worked a lot, so she's exhausted now.)
"Das war ein sehr langer Tag, nämlich sehr stressig." (That was a very long day, and I mean very stressful.)
"Du warst das nämlich!" (You were the one, indeed!)
"Wir müssen uns beeilen, nämlich der Zug fährt in 15 Minuten." (We need to hurry because the train is leaving in 15 minutes.)
"Er hat keine Zeit für seine Familie, nämlich lebt er alleine." (He doesn't have time for his family, so he lives alone.)

I'm trying to keep the "nämlich" in the sentence (I put in in brackets, if it can be left off), this can of course change the meaning or is not faithful to the original. Often you don't need "denn", "weil" etc, just two main sentences, the causal relationship is understood via context.


Ich gehe nicht zum Training, ich bin (nämlich) krank.
Sie ist jetzt erschöpft, sie hat (nämlich) viel gearbeitet.
Das war sowas von stressig, es war nämlich ein sehr langer Tag.
Du warst das (nämlich).
Wir müssen uns beeilen, der Zug fährt (nämlich) in 15 Minuten.
Er hat keine Zeit für seine Familie, er lebt (nämlich) alleine.

https://dict.leo.org/forum/viewUnsolved ... de&lang=de
Als Ergänzung:

"Nämlich" kannst du nicht wie "weil" oder "da" oder "denn" einsetzen.
Es ist kein Bindewort, das einen Nebensatz einleitet.
Wie in meinem Beispiel (siehe oben) ist es ein "Füllwort" und wirkt verstärkend, d. h. es betont das "weil" oder "da".
Man kann "nämlich" also auch weglassen...

[leosmith]

As a rule of thumb, don't use "nämlich" in German unless you mean "namely."

Other than the conversations that I have and the native material that I read, there are many examples of other uses of nämlich, for example:. Are you perhaps talking about the formal rather than colloquial language? When I produce language, I'm only interested in the colloquial.

[Doitsujin]

Other than the conversations that I have and the native material that I read, there are many examples of other uses of nämlich, for example

I tried to keep it simple. You can almost always translate "namely" as "nämlich" in German. However, the reverse isn't true.

Are you perhaps talking about the formal rather than colloquial language? When I produce language, I'm only interested in the colloquial.

In that case you don't have worry about "nämlich," because, IMHO, it's mostly used in (semi-)formal or written German.

BTW, I don't agree with Kraut's
"Du warst das (nämlich)."
The only other particle I'd use is "also:"
"Du warst das also."

Kraut's version isn't wrong, but feels strange to me. Hopefully other German LLORG members will also provide feedback on this.

[Kraut]

BTW, I don't agree with Kraut's
"Du warst das (nämlich)."
The only other particle I'd use is "also:"
"Du warst das also."

Kraut's version isn't wrong, but feels strange to me. Hopefully other German LLORG members will also provide feedback on this.

You have to look for a context with Google to see if it works, and there are thousands of hits with "er war das nämlich" (der), strangely not with "du".
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22er+w ... -serp#ip=1

[tiia]

You have to look for a context with Google to see if it works, and there are thousands of hits with "er war das nämlich" (der), strangely not with "du".
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22er+w ... -serp#ip=1

The google search is "er war es nämlich" not "er war das nämlich". If searching the latter I only get like 5 results or so...
The issue with this google search compared to the sentence from the original post is, that originally the question was about a standalone sentence. The search results above, however, never have a full stop after nämlich.
So possible sentences are mostly of the type:
- Er war das nämlich gar nicht / auch / auf jeden Fall / schon.
- Er war das/es nämlich, der... starting a relative/subordinate clause.

Both of these work also with Du.
But as soon as there is nothing following the word "nämlich" it starts to sound odd.

BTW, I don't agree with Kraut's
"Du warst das (nämlich)."
The only other particle I'd use is "also:"
"Du warst das also."

I'd throw one more idea in here that works just fine:
"Das warst nämlich du."

I could accept the standalone sentence "Du warst das nämlich." only if the context implies very clearly, what otherwise would have needed to be said with a subordinate clause afterwards. So the subordinate clause would be dropped, because in spoken language incomplete sentences are rather common. But it's definitely more spoken language for me and could only work in a very specific context.
Thinking about it, it still sounds weird.

Are you perhaps talking about the formal rather than colloquial language? When I produce language, I'm only interested in the colloquial.

In that case you don't have worry about "nämlich," because, IMHO, it's mostly used in (semi-)formal or written German.

I think the word nämlich is used frequently in spoken language. It may often sound something like "n(e)mmich".

The entry in Duden online may be also interesting: nämlich (Adverb) I'd say the most common use is the one described there as a filler.
But as a fun fact there's also nämlich (Adjektiv) that is rarely used nowadays.

[Kraut]

Ein "bon mot", das jedes Kind kennt:

Wer nämlich mit h schreibt, ist dämlich.

https://www.zeit.de/zett/2018-07/diese- ... gle.com%2F

[Iversen]

In Danish we have a close relative of "nämlich", namely "nemlig". One use that isn't covered above is in answers with the meaning: "you got it mate" (for instance as in "og så slog du lige din nabo ihjel for sjovs skyld?" "nemlig" (roughly "and then you just killed your neighbour for fun?" "yep"). I guess the same use exists in German with "nämlich". Neighbours can be irritating...

EDIT: wrong guess - "nämlich" not used as surmised

[Doitsujin]

In Danish we have a close relative of "nämlich", namely "nemlig" [...]

I obviously don't speak Danish, but the PONS Danish German dictionary, lists "stimmt!" (=[that's] right) as the German translation of "nemlig."
However, I don't think that we use "nämlich" with that meaning in German.