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There is a scene in the third episode of Star Wars in which Darth Sidious says

Execute Order Sixty-Six.

What would be the best way to translate this into German? I am thinking of using ausführen in the Sie-imperative form and Befehl for command/order, as in

Führen Sie den Befehl sechsundsechzig aus.

Is this correct? I’m having trouble finding the scene from the German-language version of the film, but I wonder how it is translated in that.

Also, the English version of the sentence conveys the ominous tone well — I am worried that my German version, even if it is correct, loses that ominousness.

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  • I'd use Weisung or perhaps Anweisung / Anordnung, but since I haven't seen the German version of Star Wars, I don't know what the official translation uses.
    – CodesInChaos
    Nov 27, 2015 at 13:43
  • Found some subtitles using "Führt die Order 66 aus.", but I don't know if they're matching the German version or if it's just a fan translation.
    – CodesInChaos
    Nov 27, 2015 at 13:46
  • @CodesInChaos - Yes, that's the exact text of the dub. Just checked it on Youtube ;-)
    – mic
    Dec 6, 2019 at 14:16

3 Answers 3

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Your proposal is grammatically correct, yet a real world Imperator who is a German native speaker would more likely use:

Befehl 66 ausführen. (Infinitive)

Or by stating a fact:

Befehl 66 tritt in Kraft. (Order 66 is in effect)

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    And if it's a German imperator in a U.S. movie, he would probably say it in a tone of voice that requires an exclamation mark, or several.
    – Kilian Foth
    Nov 25, 2015 at 7:40
  • "Befehl 66 tritt in Kraft." would be "Order 66 comes/enters into force/effect". And apart from its legal effect, it would still have to be physically carried out. "Order 66 is in effect" means "Befehl 66 ist in Kraft."
    – Cacambo
    Dec 8, 2019 at 8:06
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It's correct. But I would prefer to write it "66". The unofficial rule is: Numbers from 13 should be written as a number.

And: If the sentence is rough said, you should use an exclamation mark instead of a point, i.e. if the person shouts it.

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  • Thank you. Is there any way to make the sentence sound more ominous? When I read the German version in my head it doesn't sound as fear-inducing as the English version ...
    – Zubin Mukerjee
    Nov 24, 2015 at 22:15
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    I've found a german video of this scene. He exactly says "Führt die Order 66 aus." Order is also used in German, with another pronunciation than in English. You can say it instead of "Befehl".
    – Reese
    Nov 24, 2015 at 22:18
  • Interesting. Why is it führt and not führen Sie? Edit: is it the ihr form?
    – Zubin Mukerjee
    Nov 24, 2015 at 23:04
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    Yes, it is second-person plural. Don’t know if he uses duzen or ihrzen in general. – The German text used in dubbing/revoicing of films is often rather substandard because lip synchronization is considered more important than a good translation, so as not to make viewers dizzy. Furthermore, it is often done under high pressure of time.
    – chirlu
    Nov 24, 2015 at 23:22
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    @O.R.Mapper: It is more likely this is the "royal" plural, which is abundantly used in German Star Wars dubbing to make it sound fancier. Nevertheless, I fully agree that Palpatine would surely not address a storm trooper this way. Limitations and restrictions of dubbing have been pointed out correctly by chirlu.
    – bsumirak
    Nov 25, 2015 at 22:20
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I am German, and in the movie he said: ”führt die Order 66 aus”, so: execute the order 66

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