"Die Nächte sind notwendig."

Translation: The nights are necessary.

[Dill13]

The nights are necessary is the weirdest sentence I have ever heard. In what context would anyone say this?

[RobinV.]

It could be something similar to the following: Business conversation: Person 1: "Why don't you reduce the factory hours and only run during the day?" Person 2: "We cannot complete all orders using only day shifts. The nights are necessary."

[Dill13]

Very good! I didn't think of that. Still, I think a sentence that needs such a specific context is less useful for a beginning learner of a language.

[Anonyduck]

Perhaps they are getting all metaphysical ;) The nights are necessary... to appreciate the brightness of the days.

[Shaho.F]

Achtung:
Nächte = Nights
Nächste = Next

[cg3ntry]

This sentence is rather beautiful.

[LB_StorM]

Would this mean "the nights are inevitable" or something else? Or it just makes no sense at all?

[wudama]

The translation is ok. However without context the meaning remains unclear.

[jpentland]

Lost a mark here because I can't spell necessary. :(

[mstoyn]

That's unfortunate to try to learn German and then the application takes points for not knowing English :(

[richardensor]

Could someone please explain the difference between 'nötig' and 'notwendig'? Both mean essential, yes?

[Shady_arc]

It seems "nötig" is more close-to-life "necessary for someone". Besides, there is expression "etwas nötig haben" to express the idea "needs something". For example "Sie hat einen Stuhl nötig" ~ "She needs a chair". "Notwendig" is not used is such an expression and means a more generic "necessity". Just like in English you use "possible"/"impossible" without specifying, possible for WHOM and under what circumstances.

Could a native speaker of German clarify this?