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Often I hear different pronunciations for the word

Nichts

Some people pronounce it as

Nics

(Well, it sounds like "Nics".)

Does it make any difference? Is this a different dialect? Is it good to use as "Nics"?

SriLaks
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5 Answers5

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It's actually

nix

It's slang for nichts, as you have guessed.

I'd love to say something more but, first, I'd like to understand what is "good to use" (obviously, don't write nix it in a formal context!), and, secondly, I'm not an expert. Whence I'm pretty sure somebody will illuminate us with a better answer.

c.p.
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Nix is, as was already pointed out, a colloquial, informal, shorter form of nichts.

Nix does not derive from any specific dialect; rather it is present in one form or another in most dialects. There are exceptions like the Berlin dialect prefering nüscht.

User Mach suppied a map in the comments which is scrollable and zoomable at least on PC which shows the distribution of various predominant forms prior to World War I. It can be seen that the largest contiguous area that does not use nix is comprised approximately the current states of the current states of Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Brandenburg with some parts of southeastern Lower Saxony added; in this area nischt or nüscht are the predominant forms. This area used to extend far eastwards but to the best of my knowledge there are no longer significant German-speaking minorities there after World War II. The map excludes German-speaking areas of Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria; for most of these areas one can extend the closest form used in Germany outwards but I would be hesitant to generalise for German-speaking Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Vorarlberg region of Austria. I am fairly confident that the other parts of Austria and South Tyrol will again fit into the nix area.

It is okay to use in very informal writings, like text messages to friends or in a chat etc. Do not use it in any kind of more official written context; even in a letter to good friends, I would spell out nichts 99 % of the time.

It is also okay to use it in most contexts when speaking. (e.g: If my supervisor asks me if I had any success in an experiment, I can hear myself answering da hab ich nix rausbekommen but if I were in a job interview, I would make sure to use nichts most of the time.)

There are people (like me) who will pronounce nix in almost every spoken context while there are others that will pronounce nichts more often; I think that this is due to speaker's preference.

Jan
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  • The assertion that the form «nix» “is present in one form or another in most dialects” is obviously wrong, as you yourself immediately prove in the next sentence. And Berlin dialect is not a rare exception, but just one of many dialects that use a form other than «nix». – mach Jun 03 '21 at 22:58
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    @mach most does not mean all. I maintain that an overwhelming majority of dialects will have such a form and that other forms are much rarer even when aggregated. – Jan Jun 04 '21 at 11:44
  • And I maintain that you are mistaken. And this is not just my opinion against yours, but I have proof, see Wenker-Atlas: nichts (hope the link works). – mach Jun 04 '21 at 13:24
  • @mach The link seems to work and presents a very large nix area, not-so-large parts of nex or niksch (clearly related as per my original point), some also not-so-large parts with niz or nis/nüs (potentially related). The clear exceptions are the south-western Rhineland (Mosel/Saar into Belgium), central Hessia and the East except for Mecklenburg and Western Pommerania (including areas around Braunschweig). Some parts of the extreme South-West and Switzerland seem to use nit which may or may not be related to niz/nis and thus may or may not fit entirely. (cont.) – Jan Jun 04 '21 at 13:35
  • Over half of the non-nix and related area was lost post-1945 and there are no longer significant German-speaking populations there to the best of my knowledge. Thus, I conclude that my statement was close enough to correct to be sustained. – Jan Jun 04 '21 at 13:36
  • @Jan nit (in the southwest) goes with ned (Bavarian areas) and possibly net (more northern) as generic negation and short for nicht. – Raffzahn Jun 04 '21 at 13:50
  • @Raffzahn However, it is included on a map that otherwise maps forms and variations of nix. Are you suggesting that these areas do not distinguish between forms a Standard German speaker would identify as nichts and nicht? – Jan Jun 04 '21 at 13:53
  • @Jan Jup. At least in several common situations. After all, words and their usage are not always a 1:1 between dialects. Or are they? – Raffzahn Jun 04 '21 at 13:58
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    @Raffzahn No, they aren't but I wasn't aware that a distinction was lost in these dialects! In that case, the nit areas do not fit my bill of being essentially the same as nix in a different dialect, I presume. Thanks for pointing it out! – Jan Jun 04 '21 at 14:00
  • @Jan While I do think your definition is quite worthwhile, I wouldn't go as far as saying it has been 'lost'. For the case made, I would include it at least as remark. – Raffzahn Jun 04 '21 at 14:05
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"Nix" is dialectal. Dialects which have this form exist in Northern Germany and in Bavaria. Because of this wide range, it can also be used in colloquial speech as most/all Germans will understand it. It is not slang, but use of this form might have a surprise value that would stress the message of "nothing".

By the way, "ik" is not a different way of saying "ich". Actually, it is an older form that predates the High German consonant shift and exists in dialects in which this shift has not fully taken effect, i.e. in the North.

Hans
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Nix is basically the up-coming new, simplified pronunciation of nichts. As it is still rather young, it's not yet considered 'proper' German but purely colloquial, so the spelling has not been updated, and so, when you find the word nichts in a written text, you can't pronounce it nix when reading it aloud. It has a status similar to it's for it is and many other similar contractions in English, except it's still a bit more informal. Nix is how it is spelled when it does occur in written German, typically in informal dialogue.

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As the OP's question has yet to be fully addressed--even the accepted answer does not really do the job--allow me to point out the difference in pronunciation. To an English speaker, nix sounds like "nicks," whereas nichts is much different. The ch sound in the German does not exist in either British or American English.

It may be described as a hollow, windy sound made near the back of the throat, and if air is not passing over your tongue when you say the ch-sound, you aren't saying it correctly.

Many speakers of English mistakenly articulate the German ch as a "k" phoneme. Common examples of butchered pronunciations are the simple German words doch (mispronounced as "dock") and Ich (misspoken as "ick").

But the ch sounds neither like a "k" nor an "sh," thus nichts is not properly pronounced as either "niks" or "nishts." To get help learning the correct tongue position for the ch-sound, practice the starting sound of English words like "Hugh" or "huge," as this is probably the closest approximation to the German ch an English speaker has.

Mac
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  • In "nichts" there is no hard ch sound at all. It's similar to English "sh" as in "English" (in some dialects even identical). In "nix" there's isn't anything special either. It's like "ks" in "fix". – Em1 Mar 18 '15 at 10:21
  • On a side note: Some Germans pronounce "ich" as "ick" in their dialect. – Em1 Mar 18 '15 at 10:23
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    @Em1, I suppose "hard" was meant in the sense of "difficult". I was perplexed by this as well. – Carsten S Mar 18 '15 at 11:57
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    The question on the table is: What is the difference in pronounciation [sic] of “Nichts” and “Nics”? To be clear, the accepted response explaining the slang relationship between those two words does not answer the question. Further, the response explaining the acceptability of pronouncing nix over nichts, without once describing the actual difference in the sound of those two words, does not address the OP's question either. – Mac Mar 18 '15 at 14:40
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    @Carsten: I understood the question quite well. My criticisms were not attacks and ought not to be taken as such. I merely pointed out the two responses prior to mine did not address the OP's headline question. – Mac Mar 18 '15 at 14:44
  • @Em1: You are correct there is no "hard" ch sound in nichts. Thank you for pointing that out. That was sloppy of me and I've amended my answer. As for your side note, I recognize the ch sound will be spoken differently in Bavaria than Swabia, not to mention Hochdeutsch, but anyone with language experience realizes that too. For example, an American English phonetics primer will not teach Appalachian children in Kentucky to pronounce "fight the fire" as "fit the far," even though that's exactly how some of them are going to pronounce it regardless of "standard" phonetics rules. – Mac Mar 18 '15 at 14:54
  • @Em1: Explaining that "Ich" and "ick" don't sound the same, and then having the exceptions pointed out to that "rule," are what make languages so much fun in the first place! :-) – Mac Mar 18 '15 at 15:03