Why do I need to know Das ist nicht mein Bier?
Because despite the mention of beer, the expression has nothing to do with what you’re drinking.
Das ist nicht mein Bier is a colloquial way of saying “that’s not my business”, “that’s not my problem” or “that’s not my responsibility”.
It’s standard colloquial German and not specifically Austrian, but you’ll hear it in Austria too. It works particularly well when someone wants to distance themselves from an issue or make clear that somebody else is responsible for sorting it out.
Tone matters. Between friends or colleagues it can sound dry or humorous, but said sharply it can also come across as dismissive.
READ ALSO: Austrian German phrase of the day: Des is mir Blunzn
What does it mean?
Literally, of course, Das ist nicht mein Bier means “That isn’t my beer”.
Duden defines the expression as meaning that something is not your affair or concern. It also records the positive version, Das ist mein Bier, meaning essentially “that’s my business” or “that’s for me to deal with”.
So you might hear:
Wie ihr das organisiert, ist nicht mein Bier.
How you organise it is none of my business.
Or somebody taking responsibility might say:
Das ist mein Bier. Ich kümmere mich darum.
That’s my responsibility. I’ll take care of it.
It’s slightly different from Das ist mir egal, or the very Austrian Des is mir Blunzn. Those expressions mean that you don’t care about something. Das ist nicht mein Bier means the matter doesn’t concern you or isn’t yours to deal with.
READ ALSO: The everyday Austrian groceries that have a double meaning
But why beer?
According to Duden’s etymological dictionary, the Bier in the expression probably wasn’t originally beer at all. It is thought to be a folk-etymological reshaping of a dialect form of Birne, meaning “pear”. Duden points to a Cologne dialect expression using Beäre with the sense that something is none of somebody’s business.
Over time, speakers apparently reinterpreted the unfamiliar dialect word as the much more familiar Bier.
So the phrase may sound as though Germans decided to explain personal responsibility through beer, but its history is probably rather less alcoholic.
Der, die or das?
The expression itself doesn’t need an article, but the noun inside it does.
It’s das Bier.
That’s why you say mein Bier.
Use it like this:
Warum die beiden schon wieder streiten? Keine Ahnung. Das ist nicht mein Bier.
Why are those two arguing again? No idea. That’s none of my business.
Wer das bezahlen soll, ist nicht mein Bier.
Who’s supposed to pay for that isn’t my problem.
Das ist mein Bier. Du musst dich nicht darum kümmern.
That’s my responsibility. You don’t need to worry about it.
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