Comment by GLdRH

Comment by GLdRH 4 days ago

8 replies

Isn't English actually the only language where "free" can also mean "at no cost"?

German is the same as French in this regard, we have "kostenlos" (literally cost-less) "gratis" (the same) and "umsonst" (which interestingly can also mean "in vain").

eurleif 4 days ago

The German "frei" can mean "free of charge" sometimes: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frei#Usage_notes

  • emmericp 4 days ago

    (Native German speaker here), it's a very rare use of the word "free" and usually only used in fixed terms like "Freibier", it wouldn't even work for other drinks, e.g., you can't say "Freisaft" or "freier Saft" for free juice, it has to be kostenlos there.

    The other Wiktionary example of "freie Krankenversorgung" sounds wrong to be, but it seems to be used rarely in some more formal or legal contexts, no one would say it like this in a casual conversation. Google results also show a 4x difference between frei and kostenlos here in favor of kostenlos. But both are low since "Krankenversorgung" is already a very unusual word. I suspect many of those uses might be bad translations from English.

    • KingOfCoders 4 days ago

      "Freier Eintritt" seems to be used quite often.

      • layer8 4 days ago

        “Frei” can have the meaning of “kostenlos” (https://www.dwds.de/wb/frei#d-1-1-7), but these are limited circumstances that are usually perceived as metaphorical idioms. “Freie Software” has no direct connotation of being “free as in beer” (unlike “Freeware”).

  • GLdRH 4 days ago

    How could I forget about Freibier. Unverzeihlich.

WhyNotHugo 4 days ago

Spanish has separate words (gratis and libre) and so does Dutch (gratis and vrij).