I'm not in a hurry to get your answer; you can take your time. Or in short, take your time.
Is "Nimm dir Zeit" okay? Can you give examples of formal and informal sentences?
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5 Answers
The most obvious choices are:
- Lass Dir Zeit (A typical use would be, that you asked for a decision and want to prevent, that the addressee feels pressed for an answer and therefore skips consideration)
- Sie können sich Zeit lassen (more polite, also avoiding the imperative)
- Es eilt nicht (my favourite, most universal)
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4“Es eilt nicht” may be most neutral and therefore most universal in terms of register, but it is less universal in terms of applicable contexts, since it only works when the reason for taking one’s time is that the thing in question is not urgent. If you’re telling someone to take their time in order to be thorough, it doesn’t work; for example, it wouldn’t work for a teacher telling students at the beginning of an exam to “take your time on each question to make sure you fully understand it before you answer”. Mar 21 at 12:42
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@towe "Immer mit der Ruhe" fits if someone already seems to hurry, it doesn't fit if someone is calm or didn't start yet. The english equivalent would be "calm down" for me. Mar 22 at 8:11
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"Lass dir Zeit" - "Lass" without apostrophe (because it is in imperative form), and "dir" in lower case. Mar 22 at 14:22
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What I would say most likely in casual everyday language is
Kein Stress! (Literally "no stress" as in "don't stress over it".)
Just in spoken language though, in writing it doesn't really fit.
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12It might be worth mentioning that grammatically correct is Keinen Stress, with Kein Stress being a colloquial version, probably being promoted by the homophony with Kein'n Stress. Mar 20 at 18:08
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1This is what my Austrian partner says to shopkeepers when they look eager to help but are too busy right now, and we are not in a rush Mar 22 at 16:21
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2It is worth mentioning though, that "Kein Stress" and "Keinen Stress" are both correct, depending on the ellipsis used ("Kein Stress" could be short for "Kein Stress soll entstehen", "Keinen Stress" could derive from "Mach dir keinen Stress"). "Kein Stress" could also be seen as an "absoluter Nominativ". I would prefer "Kein Stress" both in written and spoken language.– JensMar 22 at 21:43
The idiomatic translation of Take your time. is Lass dir Zeit. It signals that the person should not stress themselves.
An example is:
Kannst du mir die Email schicken? Es hat aber keine Eile, lass dir Zeit.
Using sich Zeit nehmen can be OK, as well. But in some contexts, it can mean to reserve time:
Morgen nehme ich mir Zeit, mein Zimmer aufzuräumen.
Tomorrow I reserve some time to clean my room.
So, nimm dir Zeit might be ambiguous, depending on context.
Also, sich Zeit lassen sounds more idiomatic to me. But that might differ across different regiolects and sociolects.
answered Mar 20 at 7:04
"Take your time" in German:
Informal:
Nimm dir Zeit: This is the informal way of saying "Take your time" in German. It's used when you're talking to someone you know well or in a casual setting.
Formal:
Nehmen Sie sich Zeit: This is the formal way of saying "Take your time" in German. It's used when you're talking to someone you don't know well, or in a professional or formal setting.
Nimm dir Zeit: "...take your time but do it thoroughly without hectic"
Lass dir Zeit: Almost the same.
Du kannst dir Zeit lassen: "... take your time but do it"
Es eilt nicht: Same
Ohne Stress : Same but if you have no time - tell it to me.
