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The Questions goes:

"Kannst du nicht schwimmen?"

“___, ich kann nicht so gut schwimmen”

The choices where nein, ja, doch. Which ones are grammatically correct and what is the best answer here?

user unknown
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Belal Bahaa
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  • An answer in German is here: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/20822/was-ist-die-richtige-antwort-auf-eine-geschlossene-frage-mit-verneinung (A lot of the information is already in the question) – HalvarF Jan 15 '23 at 11:24
  • This thread covered a lot but I can’t see any conclusive answer. Could you help in elaborating more on the correct answer? – Belal Bahaa Jan 15 '23 at 11:33
  • While being a closed question, the answers are not necessarily yes or no. Like "Do you speak English?", it can be answered "a little bit" or "just so so". It's the question that is wrong, not the answer. "Ich kann nicht so gut schwimmen" makes perfect sense and gives more information than ja, nein or doch. – Thomas Weller Jan 16 '23 at 06:24
  • This is rather a question of logic than of the German language - as the problem is not dependant on the language you express it in – tofro Jan 16 '23 at 13:18
  • See above comment for reason – tofro Jan 16 '23 at 13:20
  • @tofro Different languages could have different terms for negating a positive and affirming a negative, just as the distinction between "ja" and "doch" does not exist in every language. Also, speakers of a language may have agreed on a solution to the logic problem. – xyldke Jan 19 '23 at 11:18
  • @xyldke Yes they could. But the problem applies to all languages I know (admittedly, all western European languages). – tofro Jan 19 '23 at 12:08

1 Answers1

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This is a hotly debated topic between German speakers, there is no conclusive answer that will make everyone happy.

The core of the problem is that a "Nein" to this kind of question can mean two opposite things: it can either mean rejection of the statement of the whole question ("No" meaning "I can swim very well.") or consent with the negative statement in the question ("No" meaning "I am not a good swimmer."). There's a lot of people who insist that only the former is correct, but most people use "Nein" in the latter sense. This debate also exists among English speakers.

The two camps see possible answers to the question "Kannst du nicht schwimmen?" in the following way:

Camp 1 ("traditionalists"): There are two possible anwers, "nein" und "doch". "Nein" means "I cannot swim", "doch" means "I can swim". "Ja" is a strange answer that makes no sense.

Camp 2 ("logicians"): There are three possible anwers, "nein", "ja" und "doch". "Nein" means "I can swim", "ja" means "I cannot swim". "Doch" also means "I can swim".

Fortunately, the German language, unlike English, has the nice word "doch" which exclusively means rejection of a negative statement in favor of the positive opposite. So the meaning of "doch" is entirely clear here:

“Kannst du nicht schwimmen?” - “Doch" clearly means "Ich kann schwimmen.”

So with that in mind, what does "ja" mean in an answer here? Other than "yes" in English, it cannot mean "Ich kann schwimmen." - that would be either "nein" or "doch" (depending on which camp you're in), but never "ja".

Thus, "ja" is actually an unambiguous answer here, because it's not the same as "doch":

“Kannst du nicht schwimmen?” - “Ja." clearly means "Ich kann nicht schwimmen.”

So in German, if we want, we can actually answer this type of question without being ambiguous, and the recipe is avoiding the ambiguous answer "nein".

Camp 1 are still used to "nein" in that case, and they might initially stumble upon "ja". If you expand the answer with an explanation, like in your example, there is no problem with using either "nein" or "ja".

So, the diplomatic answer to your question is: strangely, both "ja" and "nein" can be used here. If "nein" is used, the additional explanatory sentence is needed to clarify. If "ja" is used, it's still polite to add the explanation, because it makes "ja" easier to understand for people who are used to "nein" for this case. "Doch" would be wrong here, because it would mean the opposite of what the explanation says.

Earlier question and answer in German on the topic

Dr. Bopp's blog on leo.org

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HalvarF
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    Are there really people who say answering "no" to "can't you swim" means "no it's not that I can't swim, so I can swim"? This is horrible. – puck Jan 15 '23 at 18:18
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    While the answer aptly explains the suitable answers if you want to express "ich kann schwimmen" or "ich kann nicht schwimmen", I think the question is quite a bit different, given that the pre-defined answers says "ich kann nicht so gut schwimmen". Frankly, I'd argue this makes the question unanswerable, as neither "ja" nor "doch" nor "nein" fit there. – O. R. Mapper Jan 15 '23 at 19:57
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    @puck: It depends on the situation and the way it is said, but I can indeed imagine to use "nein" there, in the sense of "no, that's not the problem here". "Warum gehst du unter? Kannst du nicht schwimmen?" - "Nein, ich kann schon schwimmen, aber da zieht ein Unterseemonster an meinem Fuß!" – O. R. Mapper Jan 15 '23 at 20:01
  • The "logician" answer doesn't seem very logical to me... When I ask a negative question, and somebody answers "Ja", I always look confused, ask "Also Nein?" and they answer "Genau". BTW, your answer is pretty informative and interesting, but I really cannot upvote it due to the weird conclusion. “Kannst du nicht schwimmen?” - “Ja." is simply horrible. – Eric Duminil Jan 15 '23 at 21:10
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    I do not think any actual speakers would ever fall into your "camp 2". If you speak like your "camp 2", that is playing games with the other person. Maybe if you're in a group of friends enthusiastic about formal logic, you can do that, but it is bad advice to give to learners. I understand that in some Asian languages, that is how people speak; but in German, the only actual use is what you describe as "camp 1". – wonderbear Jan 15 '23 at 21:35
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    @wonderbear: I know quite a few people who "play that game" regularly. Which means they make it a point to answer "Ja" to negated questions. – HalvarF Jan 16 '23 at 01:41
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    @wonderbear I live in Stuttgart, where many people speak swabian, or a variant thereof. And many people answer with "Ja". I don't think there's much logic behind it, just tradition. As the saying goes, they can do everything, except speaking Hochdeutsch. – Eric Duminil Jan 16 '23 at 06:52
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    This kind of confusion exists in English too, as this (purportedly real but most probably constructed) conversation between a tower and an airplane flying holding patterns shows: (Tower:) "Flight ABC1234, do you have enough fuel or not." (Pilot:) "Yes!" (Tower:) "Yes what?" (Pilot:) "Yes, Sir!" – bakunin Jan 16 '23 at 08:05
  • Well the example given by @O.R.Mapper has some more information in it (-> ich kann schon, aber...) that explains the situation independently of yes or no. Generally when I get into the situation and am unsure what the response means, I ask back to be sure :-) – puck Jan 16 '23 at 17:42