"Er isst nichts außer Obst."

Translation: He eats nothing but fruit.

[4meerschweinchen]

Das ist nicht gesund!

[notstarboard]

Du bist eine Zitrone und du denkst, das ist nicht gesund?!

[4meerschweinchen]

Kannibalismus!

[SpaceBearOne]

Ich mag diese Bemerkungen!

[marcusth2019]

I'm happy that I understand your jibber-jabber now thanks to Duo!

[lgrasha]

That's absurdly unhealthy.

[AdeKurniawan92]

The discussion thread is suddenly about health issue

[PugLove888]

I agree, but only because most fruit has a lot of sugar! He should throw in some veggies and legumes/nuts.

[genoskill]

read about "Fruitarianism". I do not know how it is said in german, though.

[flis333]

"He eats nothing except fruit." doesn't work? why?

[FisherLiz]

It does now! Thanks for reporting it.

[HanneloreD380358]

zu flis333: das möchte ich auch gerne wissen.

[Thesaria]

Steve Jobs?

[dmitridb]

I was gonna mention. And I think he took it one step further by only eating that which has fallen already

[arisplus]

Ich hab hier dafür gekommen. Jetzt kann ich glücklich gehen.

[nunoin]

well, "er ist nichts außer Obst" has just been accepted! so I guess he is nothing without fruit ;)

[V.Corsac]

I think that'd have to be "he is nothing except fruit".

Yours would be " Er ist nichts ohne Obst".

Both are hilarious though!

[Private_606]

question: its probably wrong but why cant I say "Er isst nichts aber Obst?" is it the definition of the word?
cheers :D:D

[-Copernicus-]

"Aber" is exclusively a conjunction, synonomous with "however," and cannot be used to mean "except," as here. In this sentence, we need a preposition, so "aber" won't do.

[HanneloreD380358]

Zu Private_606: Gute Frage !

[Mantonization]

Why does 'nicht' suddenly have an 's' on the end of it?

[-Copernicus-]

"Nicht" is an adverb meaning "not"; "nichts" is a pronoun meaning "nothing."

[craaash80]

Er ist Obstesser :)

[rickjmill]

English: he's a frutarian
German: er ist frutarier?

[BBBThunda]

Er heißt Steve Jobs!

[sam_8492]

Eternal rebirth.

[s_math]

Have außer and sondern the similar meaning in this case?

[Jayanti6]

I guess this may clear your dobt.
I don't think so because "sondern" means "but rather" which means you want to show a contradiction or a comparison of the same category or a specific group.
Eg: Sie trinkt nicht Orangensaft sondern Apfelsaft.(Comparison between fruits)
She does not drink orange juice but rather apple juice.
However,if we use außer which means except it won't make sense.

[FraserLogan]

Why not: "He eats nothing, excepting fruit."
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/excepting

[zemel]

would "he eats nothing else than fruits" be correct ?

[KyleGoetz]

No, because that is not grammatically correct English.

[zemel]

thank you

[blohrding]

why was( he is not eating apart from fruit wrong )

[nunes89]

Because "Nichts" is not a negation particle, it means "Nothing"

[DaCukiMonsta]

Surely, "Er isst nur Obst." would be more commonly said?

[deactivated user]

The reason for Duolingo having included this sentence is to show us that Obst is taking the dative case here, right? It's kind of hard to notice since it doesn't actually have an article.

[Taylor300036]

It corrected mine to "He doesn't eat but fruit." so weird.

[brian.world]

This was me for many years.

[kubasirda]

Why is "He eats nothing except for the fruit" incorect ?

[thehelixfossil]

In the German to english, Früchte ( i think it is spelled) is used over Obst. Why is this?

[01Ambusher]

Okay is said "He doesn't eat fruit" but it says the answer is "He doesn't eat but fruit"

[jabulani400]

Well, Its for sure healthier than:
"Er isst nichts außer Fleisch, Eier und Kuh milch

[WolfVonPosen]

"Nichts" should be write from big letter?

[-Copernicus-]

No, "nichts" doesn't get capitalized.

[krb10]

Das ist nicht gesund

[KristianKumpula]

Again I confused "isst" with "ist" and wrote "he is nothing but fruit" because that didn't seem too weird for duolingo. The lack of phonetical difference between these words is one of the silliest things about German.

[SuzanaPave]

He doesn't eat nothing but fruit. Why it doesn't work

[-Copernicus-]

"Doesn't eat nothing" is a double negative and not correct English. Just "He eats nothing but fruit" would be correct.

[Bryan100984]

He eats nothing except fruit

[Rhuth.K]

what is the difference between ''aber'' and außer?

[KristianKumpula]

"Aber" means only "but" and other similar expressions, while "außer" means "apart from" and other similar expressions. "Aber" can't be synonymous with "außer" in the same way that "but" can be used as a synonym for "apart from" in English.

[Jirka793902]

what's wrong on "he doesn't eat anything except of fruit"

[-Copernicus-]

We don't say "except of," just "except."