English Translation
They don’t have to know.
I wonder how you can tell if this means “you musn’t know” or “you don’t have to know”. Is “Sie brauchen es nicht wissen” not closer to "you don’t have to know?
English “must not” and german “nicht müssen” are false friends, because they mean opposite things.
In german, the “nicht” negates “müssen”, turning it into “don’t have to”, while the english “not” negates that which is obligatory, maintaining the obligation itself.
If you really mean “must not”, then you use “dürfen” in german:
Sie müssen es nicht wissen. - You/they don’t have to know.
Sie brauchen es nicht zu wissen. - You/they don’t need to know. (note the “zu” that’s needed here)
Sie dürfen es nicht wissen. - You/they must/may not know.
1 Like