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I know how to use bestimmt inside a longer sentence, but I’ve heard it many times also as a short reply to a statement. z.B

A: “…” [casual statement]
B: “Bestimmt.”

At first, it seemed to me that it has the same meaning of stimmt or das stimmt (to agree) but I was not sure. Looking on the web I found that bestimmt have a slightly different usage, but I didn’t get it.

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Bestimmt as a single-word reply can be used for yes/no questions and indicates that the speaker believes the answer to be yes, but isn’t certain. It can also be used to support a statement that was toned down with a particle such as wohl. Only in this case there is an overlap with Stimmt, which indicates agreement and therefore doesn’t make sense with a (non-rhetorical) question.

A. Wird es morgen regnen?
B. Bestimmt.
A. Dann ist es wohl besser, wenn ich einen Schirm einpacke.
B. Stimmt./Bestimmt.
A. Es regnet viel zu oft hier.
B. Stimmt.
A. Hängt das mit dem Klimawandel zusammen?
B. Bestimmt.

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    Now is much more clear :) Vielen Dank! In my head I could translate it as a -more or less ironic- "probably", while stimmt is more "that's true/make sense" . Question: the irony is necessary, or it's just a matter of contest and intonation?
    – Cindie
    Nov 15, 2015 at 8:40
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    @Cindie: There is not necessarily irony involved, it can be completely serious.
    – chirlu
    Nov 15, 2015 at 21:35

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