and welcome to the first real new post in 2024, the certified best year to learn German.
I think many of you just got back from vacation in the last few days, so you might not have read last week’s article yet, but in it, I asked you all if you’d like to do a kind of January exercise special to really start the year off active.
And there was communism level of agreement, with 89% of you saying “Yes”. So throughout January, we’ll do a bunch of exercises of various kinds. And today, we’ll start with a nice quiz about
German Expressions
I’ll give you some German expressions along with an example and you have to try and figure out the meaning. Along with the solution, I’ll give you some information about each expression, like where it comes from or how to translate it.
And I’ve only picked expressions that people actually use in daily life…. well, except one, which I just find funny. But yeah, almost all of them are absolutely worth adding to your active vocabulary because they’ll make you sound really authentic.
Now, originally I thought about doing 12 or 14 expressions, but then I figured that’d be a bit too much for one session, so I’ve decided to “only” do 7, so there’s at least a chance to keep all of them in memory, and also the discussion in the comments doesn’t get too messy. I’ll do more quizzes like this in January, so not to worry.
And also, I think I’ll set up a sort of “master quiz” that contains ALL expressions that have ever been part of a quiz, but that’s for later.
Anyway, so without further ado… viel Spaß with the quiz :) They start very easy, but some of them might throw you off.
Time limit: 0
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0 of 7 Questions completed
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This one should be fairly intuitive – der Gürtel is a belt. Together with context, that might already be enough to guess it ;)
Der Kommentar über Marias Haare war unter der Gürtellinie.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 2 of 7
2. Question
“Ablage P“
In the context of office work, Ablage is a repository or file where you put a piece of paperwork. But what could Ablage Pmean?
Schon nach zwei Sätzen wusste der Manager: diese Bewerbung kommt in die Ablage P.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 3 of 7
3. Question
“einen Bart haben“
We’ll start out easy – der Bart is of course the beard. And I think with a bit of context, you’ll get what this expression is about.
Dieses Meme hat schon einen Bart, ist aber immer noch lustig.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 4 of 7
4. Question
“sich den Arsch aufreißen“
Literally, the phrasing is “to rip open one’s butt” and it’s REALLY common in Germany. But what could it mean?
Das Team hat sich für das Projekt echt den Arsch aufgerissen.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 5 of 7
5. Question
“sage und schreibe“
Literally, it means “say and write”, but what does it really express?
Der Zug kam sage und schreibe 8 Stunden zu spät.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 6 of 7
6. Question
“seinen Senf dazugeben“
The core of this super common expression is der Senf, which is the German word for… mustard. Without context, it’s impossible to guess, but maybe this example helps.
Manche Leute müssen immer ihren Senf dazugeben, egal ob sie gefragt werden oder nicht.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 7 of 7
7. Question
“wenn schon, denn schon“
Last but not least, the hardest one to guess and also the hardest one to translate, even literally. Especially the schon is kind of misleading. But maybe the context is enough to guess what it expresses.
“Einen Burger mit zweimal extra Patty, extra Käse, extra Tomaten und extra Soße.” “Wow, ist das nicht ein bisschen extrem?” “Wenn schon, denn schon.”
Correct
Incorrect
And, how did you do? Let me know in the comments if you’ve heard any of these yet or even better… try to use them and let me know how it went. And of course, if you have any questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment. I hope you enjoyed this, have a great day and I’ll see you soon with the next task.
I’d heard “circular file” because Bryan Adams sings, “put those patent leather pants in the circular file” but I never knew what it meant until reading your comment!
My mum and I had a conversation once years ago where she complained about the filing systems she had encountered at various jobs, which invariably included some kind of ‘Misc.’ file for stuff that nobody knew what to do with. She said “the only reason to file something is so that someone can find it again later, and no one would ever know to look for something under ‘Misc.’ so you might as well throw it in the bin.” and from then on she referred to throwing something away as “filing it under ‘Miscellaneous’…”
KashDeutsch
“wenn schon, denn schon”
A basketball club I played for when I was younger had “Go Big or Go Home” written on some warmup shirts. I’m not sure I’ve heard anyone outside of people who played for the club use this expression, but I still say it all the time…
Yeah, that seems to be a good match (pun intended)
marko
This is mostly just for Emanuel, who seems to have a love of Bulgaria and Bulgarian, among other places. In Croatian, which is similar, den Senf dazugeben is translated as “biti svakom loncu poklopac” (literally, to be lid to every pot) and I wonder if Bulgarian has a similar expression.
Ha, nice one, I love the imagery of it. I’ll have to ask my girlfriend about whether Bulgarian has it. She’s Bulgarian, so that’s why I have some affiliation with the country, though I wouldn’t say I “love” it :)
Hagar
I speak Hebrew and we have almost the exact same phrase “wenn schon, denn schon” with the same meaning. it uses the same words but in Hebrew “if already, then already” – “אם כבר, אז כבר”. First time German was so intuitive to me :)
I absolutely love that kind of exercise! I missed one, and it was the one having to do with “Sage und schreibe.” The only expression I had seen before was “Wenn schon, denn schon. However, I did not remember its meaning when seeing it. I’m American, and I have always found “adding one’s two cents” to be very negative. Your web site is such a treasure. Thank you very much!
Re “adding one’s two cents” — I have definitely heard it used negatively, but I have also often heard it used in a sort of self-deprecating way, by speakers who are trying to avoid sounding arrogant, especially in a professional context. For example, in a meeting, one might say “Well, here’s my 2 cents worth” and then give some input that isn’t exactly earthshaking. (I’m also a native English speaker, American, and my work background is medical editing.)
Yeah, I feel like native speakers of English use that quite a bit that way. The phrase “seinen Senf dazugeben” is NOT used that way, especially not retroactively. So you wouldn’t say something like “Das war nur mein Senf.” People MIGHT understand, but it’s not idiomatic. If you say it BEFORE you give your “Senf”, then it does work, but it sounds more colloquial and dismissive than “my two cents” to me.
Anna
You are so so funny Emanuel! I got 6 out of 7 and the last one was the easiest. Your blog helps me to get back to my verloren Deutsch! Danke schoen!
Hallo, ICH HABE AUCH 4/7 ….aber sher gut quız, Emmanuel danke fur praktisch
seanj
4 from 7 and twice I changed my mind from the correct answer. Ubrigens die Akte 13 ist echt. Wenn man sagt, akte 13, kommt ab sofort in die Papier korb.
blingsetter
Deine englische Erklärung für “Wenn schon, denn schon” wär etwas wie: If I go big, I go really big. In diesem Satz würde ich “When” am Anfang benutzen: When I go big, I go really big. Aber man könnte diesen Satz im Präsenz Progressiv formulieren. Dann geht “if” perfekt: If I’m going to go big, I’m going to go REALLY big!
Oooh brings back memories of whenever I tried to stop my young sons doing something daft, they’d just toss “yolo mum” back at me like I was too cautious – hilarious! (Luckily the cliff wasn’t too high)
The English I would use for “seinen Senf dazugeben” is “to put one’s oar in.” Unlike adding your two cents’ worth, “you have to put your oar in, don’t you?” is always negative.
I think to help propel not steer but after saying that, you could steer the conversation..hmmmm! Learning my own native tongue…hmmm
Jamie
“Sich den Arsch aufreißen“ reminds me of English’s very different “to rip someone a new one,” for a particularly vicious verbal attack. But that’s not something we would do reflexively ;-).
I thnk that it means “Now you’re talking”. I like the diferent perspectives. Whereas in English the expression is from the talking perspective, in German is from the listening. .
Yeah, that’s a good translation, though the German version sounds a fair bit more skeptical.
Rich
Ich habe 5 richtig gemacht. Die Frage mit dem Senf und mit der Gürtel habe ich Falsch gewählt. Sehr interessant und Spaß!
Franz
Fantastic – loved this format of teaching. Quiz that solely relies on context.
Nikol
Das Test hat mir sehr gefallen ich denke daas diese Ausdrücke erfassen gut die Deutsche Essenz.
Jayne
I hadn’t come across any of these in German before but recognized the first three from English equivalents. (I am pretty sure I’ve heard “has a beard on it” in English, but I googled and could find any references to it other than literal things with beards. I have a vague feeling I came across it somewhere old.) I could guess the others from context, so I got them all right.
Tom
Emanuel, there was a marketing campaign in the States for the “Most Interesting Person in the World” who drank Dos Equis beer. His reasons were similar to “wenn schon, denn schon”: If I do something, I really do it big. It spawned a number of memes. Wasn’t sure if you had seen any of them. Otherwise, fun quiz, keep them coming!
I have never heard of File 13. On the other hand, “the circular file” has the same meaning.
I’d heard “circular file” because Bryan Adams sings, “put those patent leather pants in the circular file” but I never knew what it meant until reading your comment!
My mum and I had a conversation once years ago where she complained about the filing systems she had encountered at various jobs, which invariably included some kind of ‘Misc.’ file for stuff that nobody knew what to do with. She said “the only reason to file something is so that someone can find it again later, and no one would ever know to look for something under ‘Misc.’ so you might as well throw it in the bin.” and from then on she referred to throwing something away as “filing it under ‘Miscellaneous’…”
“wenn schon, denn schon”
A basketball club I played for when I was younger had “Go Big or Go Home” written on some warmup shirts. I’m not sure I’ve heard anyone outside of people who played for the club use this expression, but I still say it all the time…
Yeah, that seems to be a good match (pun intended)
This is mostly just for Emanuel, who seems to have a love of Bulgaria and Bulgarian, among other places. In Croatian, which is similar, den Senf dazugeben is translated as “biti svakom loncu poklopac” (literally, to be lid to every pot) and I wonder if Bulgarian has a similar expression.
Ha, nice one, I love the imagery of it.
I’ll have to ask my girlfriend about whether Bulgarian has it. She’s Bulgarian, so that’s why I have some affiliation with the country, though I wouldn’t say I “love” it :)
I speak Hebrew and we have almost the exact same phrase “wenn schon, denn schon” with the same meaning. it uses the same words but in Hebrew “if already, then already” – “אם כבר, אז כבר”. First time German was so intuitive to me :)
Makes me wonder if we imported it from Yiddish :)
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Hi Emanuel!
I absolutely love that kind of exercise! I missed one, and it was the one having to do with “Sage und schreibe.” The only expression I had seen before was “Wenn schon, denn schon. However, I did not remember its meaning when seeing it. I’m American, and I have always found “adding one’s two cents” to be very negative.
Your web site is such a treasure. Thank you very much!
Re “adding one’s two cents” — I have definitely heard it used negatively, but I have also often heard it used in a sort of self-deprecating way, by speakers who are trying to avoid sounding arrogant, especially in a professional context. For example, in a meeting, one might say “Well, here’s my 2 cents worth” and then give some input that isn’t exactly earthshaking. (I’m also a native English speaker, American, and my work background is medical editing.)
Yeah, I feel like native speakers of English use that quite a bit that way.
The phrase “seinen Senf dazugeben” is NOT used that way, especially not retroactively. So you wouldn’t say something like “Das war nur mein Senf.”
People MIGHT understand, but it’s not idiomatic.
If you say it BEFORE you give your “Senf”, then it does work, but it sounds more colloquial and dismissive than “my two cents” to me.
You are so so funny Emanuel! I got 6 out of 7 and the last one was the easiest. Your blog helps me to get back to my verloren Deutsch! Danke schoen!
Freut mich, danke für das schöne Feedback :)
Das mach späß und interesant, danke.
*macht Spaß und IST interessant :)
Hallo, ICH HABE AUCH 4/7 ….aber sher gut quız, Emmanuel danke fur praktisch
4 from 7 and twice I changed my mind from the correct answer. Ubrigens die Akte 13 ist echt. Wenn man sagt, akte 13, kommt ab sofort in die Papier korb.
Deine englische Erklärung für “Wenn schon, denn schon” wär etwas wie: If I go big, I go really big. In diesem Satz würde ich “When” am Anfang benutzen: When I go big, I go really big. Aber man könnte diesen Satz im Präsenz Progressiv formulieren. Dann geht “if” perfekt: If I’m going to go big, I’m going to go REALLY big!
So far, to me, this seems to capture the vibe of “wenn schon denn schon” best :)!
Go for broke or go home (often shortened unintelligibly to “go broke or go home”)
Another way to express the same thing would be:
“A burger with two extra patties, extra cheese, extra tomatoes and extra sauce.”
“Wow, isn’t that a bit extreme?”
“Eh, yolo.”
With yolo standing for “you only live once”, which to me seems like it fills a fairly similar role as “wenn schon, denn schon”.
Also, another variation on the phrase Jeffery mentions is “go big or go home”.
Ohhhh, nice one!!! YOLO does fit the vibe quite well, at least in contexts like this.
Oooh brings back memories of whenever I tried to stop my young sons doing something daft, they’d just toss “yolo mum” back at me like I was too cautious – hilarious! (Luckily the cliff wasn’t too high)
Exactly what I would say, go big or go home.
Spaß !
The English I would use for “seinen Senf dazugeben” is “to put one’s oar in.” Unlike adding your two cents’ worth, “you have to put your oar in, don’t you?” is always negative.
Oh wow, I’ve never heard that one. Is it “oar” as in “rudder”??
Right. The idea is that someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing isn’t helping and is probably making things worse.
I think to help propel not steer but after saying that, you could steer the conversation..hmmmm! Learning my own native tongue…hmmm
“Sich den Arsch aufreißen“ reminds me of English’s very different “to rip someone a new one,” for a particularly vicious verbal attack. But that’s not something we would do reflexively ;-).
Unless you’re David Goggins and you’re thinking about slowing down during the ultramarathon. He would rip himself a new one for sure :D
What about “Das hört sich schon besser an“?
Yes, that exists :).
Are you asking me what it means?
I thnk that it means “Now you’re talking”. I like the diferent perspectives. Whereas in English the expression is from the talking perspective, in German is from the listening. .
Yeah, that’s a good translation, though the German version sounds a fair bit more skeptical.
Ich habe 5 richtig gemacht. Die Frage mit dem Senf und mit der Gürtel habe ich Falsch gewählt. Sehr interessant und Spaß!
Fantastic – loved this format of teaching. Quiz that solely relies on context.
Das Test hat mir sehr gefallen ich denke daas diese Ausdrücke erfassen gut die Deutsche Essenz.
I hadn’t come across any of these in German before but recognized the first three from English equivalents. (I am pretty sure I’ve heard “has a beard on it” in English, but I googled and could find any references to it other than literal things with beards. I have a vague feeling I came across it somewhere old.) I could guess the others from context, so I got them all right.
Emanuel, there was a marketing campaign in the States for the “Most Interesting Person in the World” who drank Dos Equis beer. His reasons were similar to “wenn schon, denn schon”: If I do something, I really do it big. It spawned a number of memes. Wasn’t sure if you had seen any of them. Otherwise, fun quiz, keep them coming!
Oh THAT’S where this meme is from :D. I just looked up dos equis meme and I didn’t expect HIM there! So classy for a beer ad.