German speakers, what the hell is "doch" and how do you use it?

[iris@neuromatch.social]

German speakers, what the hell is "doch" and how do you use it? I can't figure it out.

[floreana@poliversity.it]

@iris
Curious, my vocabulary shows more possible translations for doch in Italian than in English.

It's one of those words with a handful of meanings depending on the context.

In discourse it's often used to strenghten a concept, e.g. in "versuch's doch mal!". The phrase works perfectly without doch, but if you add it your invitation to "just try" becomes stronger.

But, if you use in reply to a negative question, it means yes, as in "on the contrary!". E.g. "Hast du noch nicht gegessen?" "Doch!" (if you have doch already had something to eat).

It's tricky. But if you get it, I think you're unlocking the language.

(Not a native German speaker)