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What's the German idiom for

Nothing to do with me!

or

It's none of my business!

where the English have an exclamation mark for emphasis?

Em1
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peterp
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    Welcome to German Language SE. Translations requests are off-topic here, unless prior research effort is clearly indicated. To meet this requirement, you could for example state why a dictionary did not give you a satisfying answer. See also How do I ask good, on-topic questions for translations or about differences? – Wrzlprmft Feb 22 '15 at 16:42
  • OK thanks Wrzlprmft, yes I am a new user and Google is not my friend in a case like this! Lingueee couldn't help either...someone wrote it down for me once .. – peterp Feb 22 '15 at 16:53
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    Somebody wrote down what? Also, please explain why a dictionary did not help, not only that it did not help. Here is our list of German–English dictionaries. – Wrzlprmft Feb 22 '15 at 17:02
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    We should not make people believe that asking for a corresponding German idiom is a "translation request" as it was meant in our FAQ. Questions on proverbs, idioms or other colloquial expressions are and have always been welcome on German Language. In case anybody disagrees we should discuss this in depth in [meta]. – Takkat Feb 22 '15 at 17:49
  • Das geht mich nichts an (usually pronounced ... nix an) – Walter Tross Feb 22 '15 at 18:00
  • @WalterTross: this should be an answer. – Takkat Feb 22 '15 at 18:03
  • @Wrzlprmft: not a single dictionary from our great list offers a translation for the proverbs in question. – Takkat Feb 22 '15 at 18:04
  • @Takkat At least, both Leo and dict.cc list "Das geht Dich nichts an" as a translation for "That's none of your business." An "ideal OP" could have found this and had already a good start. But since this isn't an ideal world ;-) I agree in welcoming this question. – Matthias Feb 22 '15 at 21:53
  • @Matthias - das habe ich schon gesehen, aber wer außer uns weiß schon, ob das dann auch für "mich" gilt, das steht halt nicht dort. Und wenn man etwas nicht im Wörterbuch findet, kann man auch kaum sagen, warum man es nicht gefunden hat, oder warum es nicht dort steht. Wir sollten da wirklich nicht so pingelig sein. – Takkat Feb 22 '15 at 22:00
  • @Takkat Nun ja, Teil der Frage hätte dann ja sein können, ob das auch für "mich" paßt. Aber ich will da auch gewiß nicht pingelig sein. – Matthias Feb 22 '15 at 22:18

4 Answers4

6

Like in English (where you could add this is not my cup of tea to the phrases in your question) you have several options:

Das geht mich nichts an. [first mentioned by Walter Tross as a comment, would also be my first choice]
Das betrifft mich nicht.
Das hat nichts mit mir zu tun.
Das ist nicht mein Bier. [rather colloquial, would be my second choice in an appropriate context]
Das ist nicht meine Angelegenheit. [already mentioned in guidot's answer]

Matthias
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  • Also to really emphasize the meaning, you can add a "gar" and say "Das hat gar nichts mit mir zu tun!" –  Feb 23 '15 at 17:09
3

colloquial:
Nicht meine Baustelle ! (Not my construction site !)
Da bist/sind Du/Sie an der falschen Adresse ! (You are at the wrong address !)
Das tangiert mich peripher ! (This is tangent to my periphery ! More condescending, should indicate education of the speaker)
Das juckt mich nicht ! (This does not itch me !)
Das ist nicht mein Bereich ! (This is not my area !)
Das kümmert mich einen Pfifferling ! (This concerns me like a chanterelle ! (The mushroom was very frequent and therefore worthless))

vulgar:
Das kümmert mich einen Dreck/Scheißdreck/feuchten Kehricht ! (I don't give a shit !).
Das geht mir am Arsch vorbei ! (That does go alongside my butt !)

Thorsten S.
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Hier mein Übersetzungsvorschlag:

Nicht meine Angelegenheit!

guidot
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-1

To also put emphasis on the fact that we feel not to be the person to be concerned at all we could also say:

Frag doch nicht mich!
Was soll ich denn damit?
Dafür bin ich | echt/nun wirklich | nicht zuständig.

Takkat
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  • Could you give me one situation where the two sentences of OP would translate to "Was soll ich denn damit?" Also, the first sentence is quite random and specific. IT only works as an answer to questions but since where talking idioms here a learning might think that he can just use it whenever. – Emanuel Feb 23 '15 at 02:08