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My German is mediocre, but in an attempt to expose my kids to the language, I got a few children’s books in German, including Bist du meine Mama?

There is a puzzling phrase at the end. The little chicken has been looking for his mama, encountering various animals and asking each in turn, “Bist du meine Mama?” When he finally finds his mom at the end and asks her the question, her reply is puzzling:

„Gack, gack,“ gackert die Henne, „und ob ich das bin!“

Translated literally, that appears to say:

“Cluck, cluck,” clucked the hen, “and if I am that!”

That doesn’t make sense, and I haven’t been able to find any alternate meaning for the words in my English–German dictionary.

I presume the gist is that she’s saying something like “I am!”, but I must be missing something with the translation. What’s she actually supposed to be saying?

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  • The colloquial formula is only a variant for "Of course, I am". Hard to explain how the "ob" comes into this formula.
    – rogermue
    Jan 1, 2015 at 12:33

3 Answers 3

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The expression und ob is used to emphasize agreement. It may be translated as of course or you bet.

„Kommst du mit?“ – „Und ob!“
‘Are you coming [with me/us]?’ – ‘Of course!’

„Gack, gack,“ gackert die Henne, „und ob ich das bin!“
‘Cluck, cluck,’ clucked the hen, ‘of course I am!’

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This sentence contains the interjection Und ob!, which can be translated as You bet!.

Und ob ich das bin! -> You bet I am!

Obviously, the answer could have been shortened to Und ob!.

See also: Translation of “Und ob”

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It means something like

Indeed I am!

Or

You can bet on it!

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