Knowing relations between words can help understand their meanings and build a more connected vocabulary network. Here, you can explore parents and offspring and discover the whole family.
- shows how many children or parents the word has
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Sources for Etymology:
- Check "es-sei-denn" on DWDS.de
Biggest German Dictionary, great for etymology, usage frequency and collocations) - "es-sei-denn" on Wiktionary (English version)
(For etymological connections across European languages. Not always accurate) - Etymonline.com - Origins of English words
My favorite source for the origin of English words.
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Is there any chance that we can get an article on this in the near future? How else am I meant to end all my requests in German with “unless….”? A deeper explanation would be much appreciated!
There is a zero chance for an article on this one :). It’s just one phrase and there really is not much to say about it.
I’m happy to clear up your question here, but I don’t really understand the second sentence.
“How else am I meant to end all my requests in German with “unless….”? ”
What do you mean by that?
Ah well guess I’ll have to ask ChatGPT for some answers… Unless…?
Really what interests me is the use of “sei” I see it here and there but I don’t really understand its use. Is this similar to a Conjunctive form? What is it and how is it used?
“sei” is a Konjunktiv 1 here, but used in an older way for sort of wishes or commands.
It’s not really used that way anymore but has survived in a few fixed phrasings, like “es sei denn” or “es werde Licht”.
I’m guessing no word-for-word translation of this is remotely possible?
Just wondering about the range of “es sei” by itself though
Am i right in thinking it is somewhere between “there would have to be” and “must” ?
“Es sei keine Menschen ohne Sauerstoff”
Es sei gute Arbeitsbeddingungen bei der Firma, bevor die Gewerkschaft froh wäre
“es sei” by itself (if it’s not a Konjunktiv 1 reported speech) is actually a commanding declaration.
It’s better to understand with the verb “werden”
– Es werde Licht!
– Let there be light/There shall be light (now)!
– Es sei dir verziehen.
– You shall be forgiven.
In the phrasing “es sei denn”, that doesn’t really fit though, so I’d take it as a fixed phrase.