It is common in English to begin the last paragraph of a letter with "Last but not least". What is the German equivalent for this phrase and what are the similar structures that one can use for the same reason?
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6You might want to double-check the phrase and its use.– StephieCommented Oct 19, 2016 at 19:52
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3I woudn't 100% agree with the statement about English– c.p.Commented Oct 19, 2016 at 20:42
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1Funnily enough, whenever we have a team meeting at work (which is held in German), always, when my boss comes to the last point in the agenda he says in English "and last but not least" (he is native German) Note: "last but not least" means that being the last addressed is not less important, but only out of ordering/chance.– dave_alcarinCommented Oct 19, 2016 at 21:50
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@c.p. Perhaps it is not that common, however, I have read in Strunk's The Elements of Style that it is a good practice to leave something interesting to the last part of a writing and I thought beginning such a statement with "the last but not least" sounds good.– mehdixCommented Oct 20, 2016 at 9:55
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@dave_alcarin to express my gratitude in the last paragraph I would have used this phrase in English, and that's how I tried to use it in the German letter too.– mehdixCommented Oct 20, 2016 at 9:59
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3 Answers
One common way to say this is nicht zuletzt or also nicht zu vergessen. For an educated audience you can also leave it untranslated - it is even listed in the Duden dictionary. These are also the most frequent options listed in Linguee's collection of bilingual texts and the ones that this Zeit article about the phrase suggests.
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1+1 leaving untranslated. As I commented in the question, my boss says it always in English. Commented Oct 19, 2016 at 21:52
Those expressions are used by German native speakers:
zu guter Letzt
Ich darf nun, zu guter Letzt, unseren Ehrengast, Hofrat Primarius Doktor Stein um ein paar abschließende Worte bitten.
nicht zuletzt
Ich möchte nicht zuletzt auch den vielen Freiwilligen danken, die so aufopfernd mitgeholfen haben.
last, but not least
(this English term can be used as it is in a German conversation)Ich komme nun, last, but not least, zum wichtigsten Punkt meiner Aufzählung, dem Impact des Projekts auf unser Unternehmen.
similar (but not exactly equivalent) terms are:
letztendlich
Letztendlich kommt es darauf an, dass wir dabei einen Gewinn erzielen.
schlussendlich
Die Heimmannschaft konnte schlussendlich doch noch ein Tor schießen.
answered Oct 20, 2016 at 8:44
I think, it's not the same, but I would say - zu guter Letzt. Just because I think it sounds pretty :)
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Indeed, it is not the same, but something different. Why are you offering it as an answer then?– MatthiasCommented Oct 19, 2016 at 20:46
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Because you can not say it the same way in german? And it's close to it and as I wrote I think it's pretty. And because it is my answer, I would translate it like that. Commented Oct 19, 2016 at 21:09
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Zu guter Letztdoesn't mean exactly the same, but is used in the same way: the attributegutwants to express that the order has no meaning. You can't find an english expression for this either. Commented Oct 20, 2016 at 6:54 -
In which aspect is "zu guter Letzt" different from "last but not least"? For me both phrases seem to be about order and importance, that is, that the last place in the list doesn't qualify the topic as the least important. Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 21:08