What does “nachvollziehen” mean in German?

He explains how he pushes the gear stick forward for gears one, two and five, and says it’s fairly easy. The other person answers “Kann ich nachvollziehen” — “I can follow that.” It’s more than “I heard you.” It means the reasoning makes sense to me, I see why you’d do it that way. Germans use it a lot when they accept someone’s logic, even before they fully agree with it.

Spoken line: “Kann ich nachvollziehen.” — “I can understand that / that makes sense to me.” “nachvollziehen” is about following a thought or reason, not just hearing a sound. You use it when the other person’s logic clicks for you. - “Deine Entscheidung kann ich nachvollziehen.” — “I can understand your decision.” - “Ich kann nicht nachvollziehen, warum er so wütend war.” — “I can’t follow why he was so angry.” - “Das ist nachvollziehbar.” — “That’s understandable / that makes sense.” Note: it often signals you accept the reasoning, even if you might still do things differently. It’s warmer and more thoughtful than a flat “okay.” In German, the letter v is usually said as an f sound — so “voll” in the middle sounds like “fol.” The final “-en” is a quick weak e sound.