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In English, the word that can be used as emphasis for adjectives (with some prior context). For example:

I’m not that rich.
She’s not that dumb.
Is he that mad?

How can we use the same kind of emphasis in German?

Edit:

I know that can be translated as das, dass and diese. However, those aren’t what I’m looking for. Also, the that here refers to some level of the adjective that’s previously stated. It can be used without not too, and I’m not sure about so (German) since it doesn’t feel like what I’m looking for exactly.

Another example:

Is he so smart that he got a Nobel Prize?
Yes, he’s that smart.

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  • 4
    This is also listed here: dict.cc not that
    – infinitezero
    Commented Oct 24, 2019 at 14:40
  • Yeah, why not simply look in a dictionary?
    – jarnbjo
    Commented Oct 24, 2019 at 15:54
  • I know "that" can be translated as das, dass and diese. However, those aren't what I'm looking for. Also, the "that" here refers to some level of the adjective that's previously stated. It can be used without "not" too, and I'm not sure about "so" (deutsch) since it doesn't feel like what I'm looking for exactly.
    – ChocolateOverflow
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 1:45

4 Answers 4

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All your examples are about an amount of being rich/dumb/mad. There is the german word

dermaßen

to express that. In every day conversation one would rather use so instead.

Ich bin nicht so reich.

Sie ist nicht so dumm.

Ist er so böse/wütend/...?

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    Although here I would like to add that maost of the time in those case "so" is pronounced as if it had serveral o's (more like "sooo")
    – Chund
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 6:26
  • 2
    I think "So reich bin nicht nicht." would fit the sentiment better.
    – Marc Schütz
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 7:55
  • The phrasing implies pointing at somebody else for comparison, and "so" is exactly what you'd use in German; however I'd add that colloquially one would probably use "So(oo) reich bin ich auch wieder nicht", "So dumm ist sie auch wieder nicht."
    – ChrisG
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 11:48
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Well, normally we use "so".

Ich bin nicht so reich

Sie ist nicht so dumm

Ist er so bescheuert?

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1
  • Although here I would like to add that maost of the time in those case "so" is pronounced as if it had serveral o's (more like "sooo")
    – Chund
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 6:26
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The general way to express this emphasis is indeed using the word so.

Ist er so bescheuert?

However, thanks to the freedom of German word order, you would likely rearrange to give the emphasised part even more emphasis:

So reich bin ich nicht.
So dumm ist sie nicht.

Ist er so schlau, dass er einen Nobelpreis bekommen wird?
Ja, so schlau ist er.

While this can be done with the question too, I would argue that it is somewhat less common in that case. Meaning that the following sentence is possible, but less likely:

So bescheuert ist er?

Often, for added emphasis, the o of so is lengthened and thus sometimes (in chat or text messages) written sooooo.

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-5

You could say:

Ich bin nicht so viel reich.
Sie ist nicht so viel dumm.
Ist er so viel bescheuert?

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    I am sorry, but no you couldn't. At least not without being seen as a bit strange, at best.
    – Daarin
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 6:55
  • 4
    Diese Antwort ist so viel falsch …
    – Jan
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 8:16
  • Maybe "sehr" instead. But even then it would sound weird. "Ich bin nicht sehr reich" would be acceptable. Simply "sie ist nicht so dumm" would work. "Ist er so sehr bescheuert?" probably won't raise an eyebrow.
    – Corak
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 8:20

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