{"id":10335,"date":"2018-11-28T13:59:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T13:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=10335"},"modified":"2018-12-05T16:33:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T16:33:01","slug":"es-sei-denn-the-german-for-unless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/es-sei-denn-the-german-for-unless\/","title":{"rendered":"Es Sei Denn: The German For ‘Unless’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Sometimes when learning a language you will come across little turns of phrase that you just can\u2019t get your head around. Maybe they look like they should mean one thing, but they actually mean something totally different. We have looked at false friends\u00a0<\/a>on the blog before, which is a similar topic you might want to look at after this one. But today\u2019s post is about the little phrase es sei denn<\/strong>, which means unless<\/strong> in German.<\/p>\n

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Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

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She will see him tomorrow, unless<\/strong> he doesn\u2019t come.
\nSie wird ihn morgen sehen, es sei denn<\/strong>, er kommt nicht.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whether you are new to German or have some experience with it, it might be difficult to accept at first that these three words, es sei denn<\/i>, mean unless <\/i>in German. If you saw the phrase es sei denn<\/em> in a sentence and didn\u2019t know what it meant, you might instinctively translate each word separately. Translated directly, es sei denn<\/i> means it be because <\/i>or it be for<\/em>. So your sentence would read:<\/p>\n

She will see him tomorrow, ‘it be because’<\/strong> he doesn\u2019t come.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2026 And that doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense! Translated like this, es sei denn<\/em> kind of looks like it should mean So be it<\/em>. Confusingly, it is the similar-looking German phrase So sei es<\/i><\/strong> that means So be it<\/strong><\/i>!<\/p>\n

Es sei denn<\/strong> = unless
\nSo sei es<\/strong> = so be it<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So now you know that es sei denn<\/i> means unless<\/i>!<\/h3>\n

You will either see es sei denn<\/i> used on its own, or with a dass <\/i>(that)<\/strong> on the end, like this:<\/p>\n

es sei denn, dass<\/i><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is the difference. Here is a sentence with just es sei denn<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Sie wird ihn morgen sehen, es sei denn,<\/strong> er kommt nicht.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is the same sentence, adding the dass<\/em> (that):<\/p>\n

Sie wird ihn morgen sehen, es sei denn, dass<\/strong> er nicht kommt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can you see the difference? When the dass<\/em> (that) is in the sentence, the verb (kommt) goes to the end of the sentence, instead. However, the sentence is not \u2018better\u2019 or \u2018worse\u2019 with the dass<\/em> (that) in it. Both versions are absolutely fine! Here is another example:<\/p>\n

Wir fahren heute, es sei denn<\/strong>, du willst<\/strong> l\u00e4<\/span>nger bleiben.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wir fahren heute, es sei denn, dass<\/strong> du l<\/span>\u00e4nger bleiben willst.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(We will go today, unless you want to stay longer.)<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope this has been useful. Has the phrase es sei denn<\/strong> ever caught you out, or is this the first time you\u2019ve seen it? Are there any other, little phrases or words that confuse or catch you out? Let us know!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Sometimes when learning a language you will come across little turns of phrase that you just can\u2019t get your head around. Maybe they look like they should mean one thing, but they actually mean something totally different. We have looked at false friends\u00a0on the blog before, which is a similar topic you might…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":10340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[11971,8],"tags":[264,12133,95131,6,376023,504046],"class_list":["post-10335","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar-language","category-language","tag-false-friends","tag-german-grammar","tag-german-language","tag-grammar","tag-language","tag-unless"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t