How would you translate "mind you" in German

Question

How would you translate the expression "mind you" in German, a phrase introducing something that should be taken into consideration. For example: "He's very well dressed, but mind you, he's got plenty of money to buy clothes".

Leo translates it as "wohlgemerkt (too lazy for a propper answer ;-)) — Joachim Sauer, May 21 '12 at 08:01
here is Pons' translation:
http://de.pons.eu/dict/search/results/?q=mind+you&l=deen&in=&lf=de

that was REALLY hard to find,mind you — Emanuel, May 21 '12 at 12:53
In contrary to Emanuel ;p It was very easy to find, this comment took more time: dict.cc — Em1, May 21 '12 at 13:31
First page, first and forth results on Google are very interesting and good and correct. — Em1, May 21 '12 at 13:38

score 19 · Accepted Answer · answered May 21 '12 at 08:05

19

In this example I would probably just use "allerdings", or say ".., aber er hat ja auch genug Geld..."

answered May 21 '12 at 08:05

Landei

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Too bad I can't give this more than +1 ... Excellent translation! – Mac May 21 '12 at 09:16
In this specific example, "er kann sich's (ja) auch leisten" is possible, too. – Jul 10 '14 at 04:03
Ein Hoch auf Modelpartikel! – Raphael Jul 10 '14 at 09:47
Sorry, but I don't think these are the best solutions. "Wohlgemerkt" or "noch dazu..." are much closer to the meaning of "mind you". Don't forget it is an imperative explicitly drawing the listeners or readers attention to a certain aspect. You have to mirror this in German which you can't do sufficiently with "allerdings" (restricting the initial statement) or "ja auch". – Martin Schwehla Jan 29 '15 at 16:45

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered May 21 '12 at 08:17

12

A somewhat literal but not too uncommon German expression would be "bedenke", the imperative of "bedenken":

Er ist gut angezogen, aber bedenke, er verfügt auch über genügend Geld, sich Kleidung zu kaufen.

answered May 21 '12 at 08:17

Takkat

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Hmm, not sure about this one: seems to me, the imperative of "bedenken" is rather stilted in most contexts. A more common construction would be "..., man muss/sollte aber bedenken, dass er auch über genügend Geld verfügt, sich Kleidung zu kaufen." It still sounds rather official to me, as opposed to the casual feel of "mind you". – Mac May 21 '12 at 09:21
The "casual" solution in German would be to just leave the intermission out of the sentence altogether: "Er ist gut angezogen, aber er hat auch genügend Geld, sich Kleidung zu kaufen". – Joachim Sauer May 21 '12 at 11:04
Ich würde "denk dran" statt "bedenke" verwenden, insbesondere umgangssprachlich. – Robert May 06 '14 at 19:11
"Bedenke" doesn't fit at all. Try translating back. – Jul 10 '14 at 04:08

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 02 '12 at 12:19

The intent of a more literal translation like "bedenke" (du sollst denken) would be like raising your hand to point something out.

Therefore, the following translations should fit:

...bedenke, er hat viel Geld um Kleidung zu kaufen.
...da er ja viel Geld hat um Kleidung zu kaufen.
...freilich hat er viel Geld um Kleidung zu kaufen.
...zugegeben, er hat viel Geld um Kleidung zu kaufen.
...wohlgemerkt, er hat viel Geld um Kleidung zu kaufen.

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered May 21 '12 at 11:03

5

"He's very well dressed, but mind you, he's got plenty of money to buy clothes".

'wobei' ist, zumindest in mündlicher Rede, recht üblich:

Er ist sehr gut gekleidet, wobei er es sich auch leicht leisten kann.

answered May 21 '12 at 11:03

user unknown

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score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:52

In German you can simply use aber or schließlich, but it sounds weird. Usually I wouldn't translate it at all.

"He's very well dressed, but mind you, he's got plenty of money to buy clothes".

Er ist immer sehr gut angezogen, er kann es sich auch leisten.

Er ist immer sehr gut angezogen, aber er kann sich das auch leisten.

Er ist immer sehr gut angezogen, schließlich kann er es sich leisten.

Tom Au · Answer 6 · 2014-07-09T15:51:29.843

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The term I would use is "Gib Acht," or pay attention. That is a fairly literal translation of "mind you."

Another, English term would be "remember." As in, "He is well dressed, but remember that he has a lot of money. The German verbs would be "merken," or bedenken, in the imperative, "merk," or "bedenk."

edited Jul 09 '14 at 15:51

answered May 21 '12 at 13:24

Tom Au

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Sorry, but I don't agree. "Mind you" as an idiomatic phrase in English has very little to do with "pay attention", has it? You'd be right, when it's a construction like, "Mind you don't step into that" - but that's a different construction with an elided "that", I think. – Mac May 21 '12 at 14:40
I agree with Tom, In my mind "mind you" is a short for "please take this into your mind for a minute". – mathreadler Jun 22 '16 at 10:04

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 22 '16 at 21:58

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In my mind "mind you" is short for "would you please bear in mind that...".

German word "beachten" (swedish "beakta") means to bear something in mind or take something into consideration. Please bear this in mind. The polite version would be

beachten Sie, dass er genug Geld dafür hat.

edited Jun 22 '16 at 21:58

user unknown

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answered Jun 22 '16 at 10:15

mathreadler

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How would you translate "mind you" in German

7 Answers7