go without saying

English

Etymology

Calque of French ça va sans dire.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

go without saying (third-person singular simple present goes without saying, present participle going without saying, simple past went without saying, past participle gone without saying)

1. (idiomatic, impersonal) To not need to be said; to be obvious, apparent, clear, or already established.

   It goes without saying that our volunteers love their work.

   • 1960 March, G. Freeman Allen, “Europe's most luxurious express - the "Settebello"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 141:

     It almost goes without saying that the train is fully soundproofed, with double-glazed windows and highly efficient air-conditioning by the British firm of J. Stone.

Translations

to be obvious, apparent or clear

• Armenian: ինքնին հասկանալի է (inkʻnin haskanali ē) (expression in the 3rd person sg)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 唔使講／唔使讲 (m⁴ sai² gong²)

  Mandarin: 不言而喻 (zh) (bùyán'éryù), 不待說／不待说 (bùdàishuō), 不用說／不用说 (bùyòngshuō), 沒說的／没说的 (zh) (méishuōde), 不消說／不消说 (zh) (bùxiāoshuō), 自不待言 (zh) (zìbùdàiyán)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: ontegenzeggelijk zijn (nl), voor zich spreken
• Estonian: on ütlematagi selge (expression in the 3rd person sg)
• Finnish: olla sanomattakin selvää
• French: cela va sans dire (fr), (informal) ça va sans dire (fr) (expression in the 3rd person sg, not followed by a subordinate clause), il va sans dire (fr), il va de soi (expression in the 3rd person sg, followed by a subordinate clause), inutile de dire (followed by a subordinate clause)
• German: sich von selbst verstehen, selbstverständlich sein, klar sein
• Hungarian: magától értetődik (hu), mondani sem kell
• Icelandic: það segir sig sjálft, það er sjálfsagt (is), það er ekki nema sjálfsagt (is) (expression in the 3rd person sg)
• Irish: ní gá é sin a rá (expression in the 3rd person sg, not followed by a subordinate clause)
• Italian: va da sé (expression in the 3rd person sg), si capisce (it) (expression in the 3rd person sg, not followed by a subordinate clause), inutile dire
• Japanese: 言うまでもない (ja) (いうまでもない, iu made mo nai)
• Korean: 말할 것도 없다 (malhal geotdo eopda)
• Macedonian: се подра́збира (se podrázbira)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: si seg selv (no), si seg sjøl

  Nynorsk: si seg sjølv

• Occitan: anar-se'n tot medish
• Polish: być oczywistym impf
• Portuguese: não precisa nem dizer (expression in the 3rd person sg)
• Russian: само́ собо́й разуме́ется (ru) (samó sobój razuméjetsja) (expression in the 3rd person sg), разуме́ется (ru) (razuméjetsja) (abbreviation), само́ собо́й (ru) (samó sobój) (abbreviation)
• Spanish: ni que decir tiene, huelga decir, vaya por delante, sobra decir
• Swedish: der säger sig självt (expression in the 3rd person sg), det är underförstått (expression in the 3rd person sg)
• Welsh: 'does dim rhaid dweud

See also

• needless to say
• stand to reason
• self-explanatory