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In English there are two common ways of asking essentially the same question. I could say for example "do you realize I am an American?" or "you do realize I am an American?" The latter carries more of an aggressive implication that the listener should already know this, and is similar to saying "surely you realize...?"

Does it make sense to change the word order like this in German, i.e. "Sie wissen [doch], daß ich Amerikaner bin?" or is this wrong because it is using the word order of a statement rather than a question?

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  • You could phrase the last question that way, even if it is structurally a statement, because it elicits a response either way. Just like its translation "You do realize I am an American?" is not really a question. If you want to make it into a proper question, you can just append an ", oder" at the end, which would make it the same as "You do realize I'm an American, right?"
    – Minix
    Commented Oct 22 at 11:01
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    @Minix Pls don't answer in comments. Just post an answer.
    – Olafant
    Commented Oct 22 at 14:13

4 Answers 4

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You can use a change of word order (note that German word order is much more flexible than English, so carries a lot less notion) in German like in your example, but the more common (and stronger) method would be to use particles:

Sie wissen schon, dass ich Amerikaner bin?

The person is supposed to know (and maybe doesn't) the fact and act accordingly.

or

Sie wissen doch, dass ich Amerikaner bin?

The person very likely knows the fact and still acts (or has acted) as if not.

Realize that the two examples using particles carry a bit of an aggressive notion.

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    I'd expect the nuanced meanings of the two sentences to be inverted. "Sie wissen doch,.." indicates that the specific person has been given the information at least once; while "Sie wissen schon,.." just indicates that the information is not secret / has been made available but the person does not definitely know it (yet maybe can infer it).
    – Chieron
    Commented Oct 22 at 10:45
  • Would “Sie wissen schon..?” not also be used to verify that the other person is aware of something (in the same way that we might in English say, “And you are aware that I’m American?”)?
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Oct 22 at 11:04
  • @JanusBahsJacquet I'd expect "Ist/War Ihnen (schon) bewusst, dass ich Amerikaner bin?" for that purpose. It's a simple yes/no question about the state of knowledge after all.
    – Chieron
    Commented Oct 22 at 12:01
  • @Chieron That to me sounds more like a plain “Are/were you aware that I’m American?” to me, with no particular expectation of whether the answer will be yes or no? The ‘and…’ version would be used not just to ask whether the other person knows, but to verify or test an existing assumption that they do. You would use it when you expect a specific answer – either as a formality if you’re almost certain the answer is yes, or if you thought they knew but now something has made you think the answer is actually no – but not if you’re just asking with no expectation.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Oct 22 at 12:51
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    @tofro "very likely knows" is not "has been given the information", which is more "supposedly knows", which itself is not "the information is not secret but you don't know, whether it got to that person". This is horrible to explain in a comment, but you really mixed up the meaning. "Doch" must be paired with "is supposed to know" (is acting weird despite the knowledge) and "schon" with "likely to know".
    – Chieron
    Commented Oct 25 at 20:04
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Your second example "You do realize I am an American?" as you said carries a certain aggressiveness/annoyance and might carry a little sarcasm since you expect the other to already know.

If you want to catch the same emotion in German you can use these two sentences:

  • Dir ist schon klar, dass ich Amerikaner bin, oder? (Umgangssprachlich)
  • Sie sind sich dessen bewusst, dass ich Amerikaner bin, nicht wahr? (Etwas förmlicher)

About your example: Sie wissen [doch], daß ich Amerikaner bin?

You can replace the question mark with a period and it becomes a statement. With question mark you don't know whether the other knows you are American. With the period you know that they know.

Side note: "dass" doesn't use "ß" since the reform of the German language in 1996.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_der_deutschen_Rechtschreibung_von_1996/Neuerungen#Schreibung_von_ss_und_%C3%9F

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    In both cases the 'oder' and the 'nicht wahr' at the end are optional. You can put them there or not, both versions are fine.
    – quarague
    Commented Oct 22 at 12:07
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To properly embrace the aggressiveness of "You do realize I'm American?" I would use "Sie wissen aber schon, dass ich Amerikaner bin?" Emphasis is important here. If the focus is on wissen, it's a bit weaker.

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When you translate to a different language, you need to realise that whatever aggressiveness there is or isn't, it will be received in a a completely different and sometimes unexpected way by the other side. Don't worry about the English sentence sounding aggressive to American ears. Worry about your translation sounding aggressive to German ears.

For example, a sentence starting with "Why don't you..." in English usually means "I will help you politely by pointing out something you missed". To German ears it sounds more like "you are a f***ing idiot for not figuring this out yourself". Seriously. (Citations? 30 years plus fluent in either language). Even knowing that the other person doesn't mean it that way is of limited helpfulness. It may stop an unfortunate answer but the damage is done.

"Oh, ich bin Amerikaner" is a lot lot safer. It states just a fact, up to the other person to draw any conclusions.

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  • My reading of the question is that the OP wants to convey a sense of aggressiveness, and that is missing in "Oh, ich bin Amerikaner".
    – O. R. Mapper
    Commented Oct 25 at 16:10

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