How to say “auch” and “auch nicht” in English

In German, we can say “auch” and “auch nicht” very simply:

Ich kann das auch.
Ich kann das auch nicht.

In English, “auch” and “auch nicht” are said with different constructions:

Option [Möglichkeit] 1

Positive statement

E	My sister was listening to music all evening	I did, too.
E	My sister was listening to music all evening	I also did.
D	Meine Schwester hörte den ganzen Abend Musik	Ich auch.

To say “auch” we can use the words “too” and “also”, note that they are put in different positions in the sentence.

Negative statement

E	My brother couldn’t understand the president’s speech	I couldn’t understand it either.
D	Mein Bruder konnte die Rede der Präsidentin nicht verstehen	Ich konnte sie auch nicht verstehen.

E	My brother couldn’t understand the president’s speech	I couldn’t either.
D	Mein Bruder konnte die Rede der Präsidentin nicht verstehen	Ich auch nicht.

To say “auch nicht” we can use “not” + “either”. Note how the sentences are constructed with a normal negation [Verneinung] and the “either” at the end of the sentence.

Option 2

Positive statement

E	My sister was listening to music all evening	So was I.
D	Meine Schwester hörte den ganzen Abend Musik	Ich auch.

Another way of saying “auch” is using “so”. In this construction, the verb comes before the subject, so their positions are inverted [umgedreht] compared to a normal sentence. That’s why this construction is called inversion [Vertauschung].

Negative statement

E	My brother couldn’t understand the president’s speech	Neither could I.
E	My brother couldn’t understand the president’s speech	Nor could I.
D	Mein Bruder konnte die Rede der Präsidentin nicht verstehen	Ich auch nicht.

Another way of saying “auch nicht” is using “neither” or “nor”. In this construction, too, the verb comes before the subject. So this is also an inversion.