Nacht

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See also: nacht

German

Etymology

From Middle High German nacht, from Old High German naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Akin to Dutch nacht, English night, Danish nat, Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (nahts).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /naxt/, ,
  • audio (Germany)(file)
  • audio (Germany)(file)
  • audio (Germany)(file)
  • audio (Austria)(file)

Noun

Nacht f (genitive Nacht, plural Nächte, diminutive Nächtchen n)

  1. night
    Die Nacht war lang und frostig.
    The night was long and chilly.
  2. darkness
    Sie wurden von der Nacht verschlungen.
    They were engulfed by the darkness (of the night).

Usage notes

  • In contemporary German, Nacht is used somewhat differently than English night. Although Nacht can be a general term for the dark hours of the day, when used as a time measurement it refers only to those hours when most ordinary people are in bed (roughly 11 p.m. till 6 a.m.). So while one says in English: “Let's have a beer tonight!”, in German one needs to say: Lass uns heute Abend ein Bier trinken! (“Let's have a beer this evening!”)
  • In English, one says in the night or in the day referring to a time of day, but on that night or on that day referring to a date. German, instead, always uses in with Nacht and always uses an with Tag (except when the latter simply means “time, era”, e.g. in jenen Tagen (“in those days”)).
  • A (masculine) genitive Nachts occurs only in the phrases des Nachts (“at night”) and eines Nachts (“one night”) and alone as the adverbial genitive Nachts (cp. nachts).

Declension

Declension of Nacht
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative eine die Nacht die Nächte
genitive einer der Nacht der Nächte
dative einer der Nacht den Nächten
accusative eine die Nacht die Nächte

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

(times of day) Tageszeit; Morgendämmerung, Morgen, Vormittag, Mittag, Nachmittag (Frühnachmittag, Spätnachmittag), Abenddämmerung, Abend, Nacht, Mitternacht (Category: de:Times of day)

Further reading

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

  • naacht (Wiesemann spelling system)

Etymology

From Old High German naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”).

Pronunciation

Noun

Nacht f (plural Necht)

  1. night
    Die Nacht is kalt.
    The night is cold.

Further reading

Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”).

Pronunciation

Noun

Nacht f (plural Nachten)

  1. night

Further reading

  • Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, →ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German nacht, from Old High German naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Compare German Nacht, Dutch nacht, English night.

Noun

Nacht f (plural Nachde)

  1. night
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