Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day.
And this time, we’re in for another one of those mysterious German particles that Germans are sprinkling all over the sentences, to give them “flavor”.
You know what I mean… those dochs and halts and jas and ebens.
And today, we’ll take a look at the meaning and use of
denn
And we’ll start with a couple of quick fixed for common mistakes.
First of,there is a difference between German den and German denn and it matters! Denn is like the English word den, German den has a long, open “e”. Here they are.
den – denn
So please try to practice this.
And then second, a quick note about denn and dann because people often mix them up.
300 years ago, denn and dann were pretty much synonyms. But just as their English brothers then and than diversified in meaning, so did the German denn and dann.
So is the difference between denn and dann the same as between then and than?
Of course not.
That would go against rule number 42 of the Manifestum of Languages…
42. The Confusion of the Learner must be achieved
Dann does NOT mean than and denn often DOESN’T translate to then.
I don’t want to talk about dann here so let’s just say dann is essentially an answer to the question when?
- Wann?
Dann! - When?
Then!
Denn on the other hand cannot, under no circumstances ever, answer anything.
But it can do a lot of other things and we’ll clear them all up today.
So are you ready to jump in? Then let’s go…
Denn has three meanings; or better functions. There’s its normal day job as a translation for because. That pays the rent. Then, because denn has watched some motivational Youtube, it has a side hustle as a flavoring particle, and that’s actually going so great, it brings in more income (aka usage) than the “main” job.
And lastly, sometimes it has to help out its gym buddy als with the comparisons, but that’s negligeble.
We’ll actually focus on the “side hustle” because that’s the most common use and that’s what people are having problems with.
And if you’re now like “Wait, but I want to know how to use denn as because.”
Then no worries… I have a separate article about that, where we also take a detailed look at the difference between denn and weil.
In a nutshell, denn does NOT make the verb go to the end, it sounds a bit formal and is more common in writing, and the denn-sentence MUST come AFTER what it gives the reason for.
But yeah… if you want more details, here’s the link:
weil and denn – What’s the difference
But now, let’s take a look at how Germans use denn as a particle.
“denn” – a curious filler
Just like doch or halt or schon, denn is also used as a flavoring particle. Here is an example from daily speech.
- “Hey, ich muss dir was erzählen.”
“Was denn?”
“Ich habe heute 100 Euro gefunden.”
“Oh, wo denn?”
“Auf der Strasse vor meinem Haus.”
“Lädst du mich denn auf ein Bier ein?”
“Klar.” - “Hey I have got to tell you something.”
“Oh What is it?”
“I found 100 € today.”
“Oh, and where?”
“On the street, in front of my house.”
“So, are you going to invite me for a beer then?
“Sure.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
If you look at how denn is used here, you might notice one thing: it is only used in questions. And that’s no coincidence, because:
Denn as a flavoring particle DOES ONLY WORK IN questions!
But what exactly does it do?
Well, in many instances it is basically padding. Yup, padding. A “naked” question word would sound rather harsh.
- “Hey, ich habe heute was cooles gesehen.”
“Was?” - “Hey I’ve seen something cool today.”
“What?” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
To make this sound friendly you would need to lengthen it a lot while doing all kinds of turns with the melody… whaaaaaat? Both languages, English and German try to soften this by adding some filler like oh, and or was it or… denn.
Denn just makes you sound less harsh and it gives you more options to express your feelings with tone and melody.
It DOESN’T, as many sources online suggest, signal interest. I mean, come on people… it’s a question! “Denn signals interest.” is a lazy ass explanation.
What it really is is padding, an extra syllable that gives you room to express yourself tonally. You can make it sound annoyed, surprised, super curious, angry… whatever you want.
- “Hey, ich muss dir was zeigen.
“Was denn.” - “Hey, I gotta show you something.”
“Oh what ? /What is it?” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
However, probably on account of its padding-power denn always sounds a bit casual. A detective would never ask the suspect where denn the money is because the padding-power of denn would take away the sharpness.
(Another argument against this “Signals interest”-nonsense, by the way. The detective is VERY interested in the answers, even without denn.)
Anyway, here’s a couple more examples…
- Wo ist denn eigentlich meine Brille?
- Oh by the way, where are my glasses?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wie hast du denn nur IHRE Telefonnummer gekriegt?
- How the hell did you get HER phone number?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
As you can see, denn is not restricted to super short questions. Sure, these questions wouldn’t sound super harsh without denn.
I’d say in those examples denn gives the same flavor as an initial so does in English.
Sometimes it has a slight undertone of at least …
- “Mein Arm tut immer noch wahnsinning weh.”
“Kannst du denn (wenigstens) schlafen? - “My arm still hurts incredibly.”
“Can you sleep at least?” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But those are nuances that you’ll pick up over time.
The important takeaway is that denn is used to “pad” questions and possibly give you some room for your intonation to show your mood, so go ahead and start adding it to questions. Just don’t overdo it. Like… having a denn in EVERY question would be too much :).
Cool!
Now, we’re almost done, but there’s one more thing I want to mention real quick.
One more thing I want to mention real quick
Geez headline, you had one job!! Do it again, and correct this time!
“Denn” – the other “als”
Contemporary German (hahaha… writing that was a real joy for some reason) uses the word als for unequal comparisons.
- Thomas ist größer als Maria.
- Thomas is taller than Maria.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But a few hundred years ago, German actually used denn for this purpose. No idea why people switched to als at some point, but be that as it may, there are two occasions in which denn is still used that way. The first is to avoid double als. As you know als itself has a LOT to do and means a LOT of things so sometimes this happens.
- Ich bin jetzt größer als als Kind.
- I am now taller than as a kid.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Here we have a comparing als and a whatever you want to call that –als. In spoken German, I think most people don’t bother and say als als but in writing the comparing als will be replaced by denn. I have to say though, that this sounds really high class already. Do it and your German teacher will be secretly impressed.
- Ich bin jetzt größer denn als Kind.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Alright… there is also one fixed expression that still uses denn to for comparison: denn je.
- Herkules ist stärker denn je.
- Herkules is stronger than ever.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
This doesn’t even work with als. Denn je is still quite common but it certainly sounds like very high German. So if you drop a denn je in a sentence people will be secretly impressed by your level of German.
But other than that I would not recommend to use denn as than in German. Sometimes it works and you may read it here and there but at the least you will sound like your are stage acting and in the worst case people will be confused because denn has other meanings that are more common. But denn je is than ever so go ahead and make some jaws drop.
And that’s it for today. Yeay!!
This was our look at the meaning and use of denn. We’ve learned that can mean weil, but it has different grammar and a different scope and so at least in spoken German the more common denn is the question padding.
If you want to check how much you remember, you can take the little quiz I have prepared for you.
And of course, if you have any questions or suggestions leave me a comment. I hope you enjoyed it.
Till next time.
further reading:
The Box Model – An incredibly helpful perspective on sentence structure
denn vs weil – What’s the difference
Danke für den Artikel. Hat mich weiter gebracht.
Das freut mich zu hören :)!
In my experience (and research), it is common in colloquial spoken German, at least in Austria and perhaps southern Germany, not to transpose the verb when using weil. Weil is much more commonly used in these areas.
BTW The word “da” is also used as an alternative to mean the same thing (with transposed verb) but I think mainly (only?) in written (formal?) German.
Yes, that’s true for Norther Germany as well, but it really only works for “weil”, not for “da” for example. And only if the weil-sentence comes AFTER what it is reasoning for.
This sounds wrong in spoken as well.
Hey Emanuel,
Why the sentence
“Entschuldigung, wissen Sie denn, wie ich zum Markt komme?”
Is wrong?
I thought “denn” can be used in questions, long and short?
Great question!!
At first, I was thinking it is because there is no shared context. So no prior conversation and the people don’t know each other.
But then I realized that
would totally be okay and even preferable over the same without “denn”.
And then I realized that it depends on the question type.
For w-questions (with question word), “denn” works pretty universally.
For yes or no questions, it only sounds appropriate if there is an ongoing conversation. In these questions, it has a vibe of connecting to what was before, but when there’s nothing, it sounds weird all of a sudden.
Let me know if that helps.
The W-questions with “denn” part is satisfying for me.
But for the Yes or No questions, in this case, “denn” would have the both function of paddling and referring backwards (as in first meaning with because).
This is what makes me confusing.
Hallo Emanuel, on Question 4 of the test, I thought the last choice “Thomas koch Pasta, Weil er Hunger hat” was one of your trick questions and not a typo–because it should be Thomas kochT, –but turned out it really was a typo!
Oh sorry for the confusion!!
Yeah, in a multiple choice situation like in that question, it’s not clear if that was on purpose or not.
Generally, unless the topic is specifically conjugation, these mistakes are ALWAYS typos though (just in case you come across another somehwere) :)
Hi Emanuel,
Wie hast du denn nur die IHRE Telefonnummer gekriegt?
In this example sentence, why do you have “die” and “ihre” at the same time?
Many thanks:)
Good catch! That’s a typo. “die” has to go. I first had “die”, then changed it to “ihre” and forgot to edit out “die” :)
Sorry for the confusion!
While i really enjoyed the article, i find myself being a little more confused than before :”) The overload of information confused me…
Love how witty this article is!
I just found this blog today and I’m really impressed. I really like this style of teaching and I thank you wholeheartedly for explaining this really well. There’s only one thing I can’t quite understand – the last question from the quiz. It lists some answers that use DENN in affirmative or imperative sentences as correct. Why is that so? Isn’t it always used in questions? Are they part of idioms?
Hi, thanks for the great feedback and also for the question about the quiz! You’re totally correct. None of these sentence were idiomatic, except the question. I forgot to tick the box to make the question “multiple answers” instead of “one answer”. It should be fixed now.
Vielen Dank und viel Spaß mit der Seite :)
I want to say a big thank you for your mentioning the Manifestum of Languages. I am having a great time! I never enjoyed the idea of being confused so much :)
Hi Emanuel. I am learning a lot with your blog!
You might find this article interesting on denn vs weil.
It mentions that both A-weil-B and A-denn-B can tell that B is the reason why A happens, but only A-denn-B can tell that B is the reason why you say or believe that A happens.
Examples:
Die Straße ist naß, denn es hat geregnet.
Die Straße ist naß, weil es geregnet hat.
(the street is wet because it rained, regardless of my opinion)
Es hat geregnet, denn die Straße ist naß.
*Es hat geregnet, weil die Straße naß ist.
(I say/believe that it rained, because I perceive that the street is wet)
Apparently, this second kind of causal link, this reason for stating the fact instead of reason for the fact itself, can only be expressed with denn.
Wow, that’s actually true!!
“denn” can be used for this kind of inferring.
– Es hat geregnet, denn die Straße ist nass.
by itself, it sounds a bit weird to me. But in context it would work, while the same with “weil” wouldn’t.
That makes sense, too.
What happens is basically an omision of the part “I think/say”. A “weil”-sentence is an integrated sentence, so it’s one level below “es hat geregnet”. Hence it CAN’T refer to a top level sentence like “I think/say”
A denn-sentence on the other hand is a top level sentence, so it can very well refer to an unspoken “I think”.
That said, I would STRONGLY recommend learners NOT to use it that way. It’s not that common and you need to have sprachgefühl to pull it off. The chances of it being a mess is really high :).
Thanks a lot for sharing this, that was an interesting little insight!!
Hallo! Ich lerne seit vier Jahren Deutsch, weil ich es für meine Prüfungen lernen muss. Jedoch wurden meine Prüfungen abgesagen wegen dem Coronavirus und ich lerne doch Deutsch! Warum? Ich kann jetzt nicht aufhalten! Ich bin besessen! Also hab ich jeden Tag studiert und es hat viel verbessert, da deiner Blogs sehr fantastisch sind! Danke!
Super :)!! Das freut mich zu hören. Und ja, mach auf jeden Fall weiter!! Du bist schon so gut, bald bist du bereit für C1!!
Dankeschön!
Dankeschön!
Wow nice jooobbbbb
awesome post, thanks! <3
Glad you like it :)!!
Great article!
I have a question about the test on this answer choice of the 2 questions of choosing the grammatically correct answer. This sentence ‘Weil er Hunger hat, kocht Thomas Pasta’, how is it correct in one question and wrong in another if the sentence is already grammatically correct?
Great question!!!
Simple answer: We messed up and forgot to mark it as right in the second one.
Thanks for pointing that out and sorry for the confusion (I would be REALLY confused by something like that)
It would be better if you got straight to the point.
I know! This was from a period where I really went off topic a LOT. I want to edit all my old articles and trim some fat, but it’s a slow process. Thank’s for the feedback though!
Umm…I don’t want Emanuel to get to the point! This blog is more designed to review ideas we already have seen in class, or go more in depth on words we “know”. He shuffles around the edges. Many other blogs are TOO short, brief, basic and don’t give the full Sprachgefühl.
Why do you even do this it doesn’t make any sense
IT makes sense to some people. Nothing works for everyone. And I mainly did it because I enjoyed it.
If you have a question about it, you’re welcome to ask.
This is the worst thing ever
Thank you for your great blog. It is really helpful! And awesome! One point: Denn die Kinder sollen nicht nur Deutsch lernen, sie sollen auch ihre Muttersprache lernen. “Denn” in case is translated as “as”, but not as “because” can be used, as the first part of a sentence:) My college helped me to understand it:)
Thanks for the nice feedback :).
One question about your comment though… what exactly is it that your colleague helped you understand? Your sentence is a bit confusing (I think there’s something missing)
Thanks :D
Amazon :D
So in this example
Wie hast du denn nur die IHRE Telefonnummer gekriegt?
Nur here means ( the hell) ??? Or is it because that it came with denn?
Yeah, “nur” here is expressing that the speaker thinks getting her phone number is a really difficult thing to do. It would also work without “denn”. It’s a side use of “nur” and it’s limited to questions.
Hope that helps :)
It took me a while to understand the “Chefin ist sauer” sentence. It might help to compare with sentences linked with “und”:
Die Chefin ist sauer, dass das Meeting gecancelt wurde und sie nach New York geflogen ist.
Die Chefin ist sauer, dass das Meeting gecancelt wurde, und sie ist nach New York geflogen.
From the word order, it is easy to tell that:
The first sentence is saying: The meeting was cancelled and she flew to New York. The boss is angry about that.
The second sentence is saying: The meeting was cancelled. The boss is angry about that, and she flew to New York.
With “weil” and “denn” you have no choice about the word order. With “weil” the word order has to be like the first sentence and with “denn” it has to be like the second sentence.
Die Chefin ist sauer, dass das Meeting gecancelt wurde, weil sie nach New York geflogen ist.
Die Chefin ist sauer, dass das Meeting gecancelt wurde, denn sie ist nach New York geflogen.
Therefore it sounds as if they are saying
Weil sentence: The meeting was cancelled because she flew to New York. The boss is angry about that.
Denn sentence: The meeting was cancelled. The boss is angry about that because she flew to New York.
Perfect analysis :). Danke!Are you a native speaker by any chance?
No, I’m learning German. I didn’t understand the difference between denn and weil until I read your article. Excellent site, but the way. Always interesting to read and I’ve learnt a lot from it.