A basket, a hose and an apple and an egg - these are some of the props of the German expressions we'll learn today. As usual with examples and trivia about the idioms.
Hooray. Most of you are already familiar with the format, but if you’re not – in each episode we learn a few useful German idioms and expressions. And I really do mean useful in the sense that native speakers actually use them in daily life.
And because there’s usually not much to analyze or explain, it’s perfect stuff to make the learning a bit more interactive in form of a quiz.
I’ll give you the idiom along with a literal translation and an example and you have to decide what the expression actually means. And to make sure it’s not too easy, the first example I am giving is very generic. So there’s virtually no context that would give away the meaning. And also, I am trying to have all the options sound somewhat plausible.
So the most logical option is not always the correct one.
But I also don’t want it to be too difficult and just pure guesswork, so there’s a second example waiting for you behind the hint-button and that example DOES have context.
So basically, you can first test if you know the expression already or if you have some sort of gut feeling and then you can check the hint and reevaluate.
And of course, as usual, along with each answer I’ll give you a bit of insight into where the expression actually comes from and why it means what it means.
But enough with “What we’ll do.”. Let’s actually do it. Viel Erfolg!
***
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Quiz Summary
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Taken literally, it means “having a stone in the board”. Which probably makes a lot of you think of a board game. But is that really what it’s about ? And what does it mean?
Generic example:
Ich habe bei seinem Mitbewohner einen Stein im Brett. (his flatmate)
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
Specific example:
Ich habe beim Mitbewohner von meinem Freund einen Stein im Brett. Der sagt mir auf jeden Fall, wenn mein Freund Frauenbesuch hat.
I __________ (the flatmate of my boyfriend). He’ll definitely tell me if my boyfriend has a woman over.
Question 2 of 7
2. Question
“auf dem Schlauch stehen”
der Schlauch is the German word for a tube. Or more precisely, a flexible tube, like a garden hose for example. So taken literally, “auf dem Schlauch stehen” means “standing on the tube“. But what does it really express?
Generic example:
Ich steh grad auf’m Schlauch.
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
Specific example:
“Thomas kommt auch.” “Wer?” “Na Thomas!” “Äh, hilf mir mal, ich steh grad auf dem Schlauch.” “Na der Ex von Maria.” “Ohhhh.”
“Thomas is coming as well.” “Who?” “Thomas!” “Uhm… help me out, ___________ .” “The ex of Maria.” “Ohhh.”
Question 3 of 7
3. Question
“alter Schwede”
Yes, Germans use “Old Swede” as an expression. Like… a lot. It’s definitely the one that’s the most common out of those in the quiz today, if not in general.
But what could it mean?
Generic example:
Alter Schwede!!
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
Specific example:
“In der Bar da kostet ein Bier 7 Euro?” “Alter Schwede!! Das ist extrem.”
“In that bar over there, one beer costs 7 Euros.” “______ , that’s extreme.”
Question 4 of 7
4. Question
“für ‘nen Appel und ein Ei”
You probably guessed it – Appel is a northern German variant of Apfel. So the phrasing taken literally means “for an apple and an egg“. But what does it actually express?
Generic example:
Ich habe das für einen Appel und ein Ei gekriegt.
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
Specific example:
Auf diesem Flohmarkt kriegst du echt coole Klamotten für’n Appel und ein Ei.
At the flea market, you can get really cool clothes _________ .
Question 5 of 7
5. Question
And last but not least, one that we’ve all experienced, but that’s really hard to guess:
“einen Korb kriegen”
der Korb is a basket, so the whole phrase means “getting a basket“. But what does it really mean?
Generic example:
Ich habe von Maria einen Korb gekriegt.
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
Specific example:
“Ich habe gestern endlich meinen Gym-Crush angesprochen.” “Oh, und? Habt ihr ein Date?” “Nein, ich habe einen Korb gekriegt.” “Ach schade.”
“I finally approached my gym crush yesterday.” “Oh, so? Do you have a date?” “No, I _________ .” “Oh, too bad.”
Question 6 of 7
6. Question
And now let’s do a quick recap.
Your German friend tells you something about German taxes, and you’re really bored, but you want to sound engaged. What do you say?
Correct
Incorrect
Question 7 of 7
7. Question
And to wrap it up, let’s do something everyone hates … typing :)
Complete the idioms with the proper word (capitalization is ignored).
jemandem einen im Brett haben
einen kriegen
auf dem stehen
Schwede
Correct
Incorrect
***
Und, wie war’s? How’d it go?
I think it wasn’t too hard, and the typing question wasn’t too annoying. Let me know if you’d like me to use typing more often or if you’d prefer to just stick with clicking and tapping.
And let me know if you knew any of the expressions already in daily life and also, if you happen to have the same expression in your mother tongue. Or a different one but for the same context.
And of course, if you have any questions about any of them, let me know in the comments as well and I’ll clear it up. I hope you enjoyed this one, have a great week and I’ll see you next time!
I checked Leo for the gender of Appel, and it said masculine. And as an example, it gave “für ‘nen Appel und ‘n Ei” (which it translated as “for a song”).
So I guess some people do say “einen” or a form thereof
“For peanuts” is good for American English too. That would be my first suggestion.
SteveBead
Chuckle. Poof is an older term for a gay person in British English.
Gabi:p
Hallo! thank you so much team spirit ill always be in debt with you Leute <3!! macht’s gut!
berlingrabers
I’m not sure what it says about my circles or lifestyle, but “auf dem Schlauch stehen” is by far the expression I hear most often of all of those in real life.
I think “stumped” is OK, but it sounds a bit more permanent to me than “auf dem Schlauch stehen.” It’s more about giving up trying to come up with an answer to something.
I’m really not sure there’s an actual idiom that would match very well. You might say, “I’m not getting it…” or “Help me out here…” or something in that kind of situation. But maybe somebody else can come up with a closer expression.
Isn’t that more about getting something wrong in a stupid way? “auf dem Schlauch stehen” is about being fully aware that you can’t access it right now.
This is funny, but I’m not sure it’s a good fit. I feel like I have heard “has a senior moment” many times in the news and you’d never hear “steht auf dem Schlauch” there. Also, “senior moment” seems to imply forgetting. “auf dem Schlauch stehen” is more about having a mental blockage that can refer to new ideas going in (understanding) or old ones going out (remembering). I think “I’m mentally blocked” might be the best match, but I’m not sure either.
appart from Korb kriegen i’d heard of none of these.
Tenet btw is a mess the doesn’t really make sense. I think they should have gone for a climate change narrative where the people are coming from the future to battle the people from the past who caused climate change. Because the motive for the whole ending the world thing was perposterous.
Wow, this is a real surprise for me that you didn’t now these. I’m curious if you’ll hear some of them now.
As for Tenet… yeah, it’s got big gaping holes, but at least it made me think a bit, which is more than most modern movies do, which just make me tired. Like Oppenheimer for instance. But yeah, I am scared of watching Interstellar now, maybe it’s just another mid experience that everyone goes crazy over for some reason.
I think he’s genrally a very “mid” director imo. I mean, kinda have enjoyed his films to some extent but in spite of the “big themes” and epic scores theres something absent in them.
This!! 100%. Even the Dark Night felt had that feel to me and part 1 and three of the series REALLY did. I hated part 1 because I was bored and I hated part 3 because it was so much wasted potential. The tone is mature, which is nice, but yeah. And Oppenheimer… holy shit. Like Temu-“The Wing”… OMG will he get to keep his security clearance. I am on the edge of my seat. I need to know.
Some of it is plain old outright bad too. Like this whole dilema thing with the ferry with the prisoners in one of the batman films. It feels like the kind of contrived philophical dilema that might have been novel if id been 11 when i saw it. Didn’t see Oppenheimar, had zero interest.
That said i do have a soft spot for Inception, in spite of the fact it doesn’t really sustain repeat viewings that well and hinges a lot on “reveals”.
Just off the top of my head i’d spectulate the abscence might be be the lack any kind of nuance or depth to the understanding of human psychology.
Jeffrey
I don’t think I’ve heard alter Schwede as an exclamation in BW, but I have heard it as a “greeting” like “digga” or a mild rebuke “do alter Schwede, was machst du da”. Often it is just “alter”. Or maybe I’m getting Alter and Alter Schwede mixed up?
I got full points but I had to lean on the hints.
Elsa
Hallo,
“these some of the props” (these are some of the props) “trying to have all the option sound” (trying to have all the options sound) Question 3: widespread (just the one word) Question 6: “Your friend German friend” (Your German friend)
Great quiz! I knew “Alter Schwede” und “einen Korb kriegen”, the others I didn’t, but got a few right out of context or the hints :)
I’m in Düsseldorf at the moment and sitting at the Thalia coffee place while I read this and do a few more things on my computer (and please don’t say not to waste my time, because I always do little work/study breaks). It’s really hot today (28) and I went to see Duran Duran yesterday, really good concert!
Oh boy, good timing on that concert then. I hear this week will be 38 in parts of Germany. You made it out in time.
Anonymous
I was puzzled by the ‘habt ihr’ in the Korb example???
In ‘Fur ein Appel und ein Ei’ it should be ‘flea market’, not flee market. In English we have ‘going for a song’ for something offered very cheap, but in the flea market context it would more likely be ‘you can get things for next to nothing’.
That was fun, if a bit mystifying and humbling; I’d never heard ANY of these idioms. Your hints for context were excellent – I should have used the one for Q1!
It seems to me that American idioms are more related to certain common areas of American life over a hundred and fifty years ago, such as riverboat gambling, betting or the like. German idioms seem more connected with the natural world, the forest etc.
Perhaps I’m wrong.
Ralph
We are new to this site. Thanks so much. Fun , educational and well put together. Keine Schnappsidee.
Even though my German is probably about C1 now, I’m very tired today and I read “Ei” as “eye” so was at first very confused how that could be an idiom for something cheap!
Also I like that the quiz included a typing exercise to practice recall and spelling!
An easy mistake to make, since in Luis Bunuel’s “Le chien andalou” that horrific scene in which someone is seen slicing somebody’s eye, is actually a soft-boiled egg!
Malkah
Das hat Spass gemacht! Selbst als Muttersprachlerin habe ich einen Fehler gemacht, haha.
Kleine Fehler mache ich gelegentlich auch, eher vom Generationsunterschied abhaengig. Manchmal benutze ich Ausdruecke z.B aus den ’60er Jahren, die vielleicht juengeren Leuten merkwuerdig vorkommen:-)
Last edited 1 year ago by Harald
Shardul
New member here Yayyy. All thanks to everyone who chipped in extra you’ve genuinely made my day (and maybe my future). I’m a student from India working towards studying in Germany one day, and these aticles have really made the language fun for me. Emanuel’s explanations, bits of humor, and etymology make it really enjoyable for me. I’ll be using this opportunity to learn as much as I can and I hope to one day pass it forward. Vielen Dank, German learning community!!!
emmlee
So cool! I enjoyed the typing. It really makes you realize how much you thought you registered, but didn’t really get 100%. Thanks!
I hate typing in exercises, that’s why I almost never use it but I feel like I should fade it in in some homeopathic doses every now and then.
Bissell
Alter Schwede habe ich etwas neu gelernt! Ich finde diese Ausdrucke Übungen toll zu sein. Das Typing ist nicht so schlecht und es hilft mich mit dem Erinnern.
Neu aber unter keinen Umstaenden. Wieso? Schon laengst bekannt ist mir dieser Ausdruck, und zwar wie “hinter schwedischen Gardinen sitzen”, wahrscheinlich von der Vasa-Zeit abgeleitet, als fast ganz Nordeuropa unter dem schwedischen Koenigreich stand.
Hyuri
Dar um fora (Einen Korb geben) Tomar um fora (Einen Korb kriegen)
I don’t even know why it works like that. Literally it is: Give an outside Get an outside
And if you change the indefinite article in the first one for a definite one, it will mean to get lost Dar o fora
So you can say Eu dei um fora depois dei o fora (I rejected her/him and then i got lost)
This expression makes a lot of sense to me actually. You’re giving someone an “out”. A bit like showing the door, just that it’s at the VERY early stage :)
Interesting! and also thank you for signing me up for the 1 year subscription, I really appreciate the help and will try my best to learn German. Hopefully I can be able to pay it forward one day.
fairyhedgehog
That was fun! I needed the hints for nearly all of them, and with hints I got 10 points out of 11 (I spelt Alter as Alte).
Flavia
Krass! Alter Schwede!
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Why is it not “für einen Appel und ein Ei”?
I checked Leo for the gender of Appel, and it said masculine. And as an example, it gave “für ‘nen Appel und ‘n Ei” (which it translated as “for a song”).
So I guess some people do say “einen” or a form thereof
Ops, you’re completely right, it should be “einen” or “nen” or “‘n” but not “ein”. It’s masculine Accusative, so “ein” makes no sense.
Alter Schwede! I corrected Emanuel’s grammar!
My mistakes are your empowerment!
Appel und Ei: Brits would say “you can get it/them for peanuts”
Schlauch: “it’s on the tip of my tongue”
Re: Schlauch… no, tip of the tongue is not a good match.
“auf dem Schlauch stehen” means that you’re really blocked. It does not have this notion of being super close.
– Es liegt mir auf der Zunge.
– It’s on the tip of my tongue.
“For peanuts” is good for American English too. That would be my first suggestion.
Chuckle. Poof is an older term for a gay person in British English.
Hallo!
thank you so much team spirit ill always be in debt with you Leute <3!! macht’s gut!
I’m not sure what it says about my circles or lifestyle, but “auf dem Schlauch stehen” is by far the expression I hear most often of all of those in real life.
I believe the American idiom would be “to be stumped”, in German “ueberfragt sein”. Literally of course, the phrase means “to stand on a hose”!
I think “stumped” is OK, but it sounds a bit more permanent to me than “auf dem Schlauch stehen.” It’s more about giving up trying to come up with an answer to something.
I’m really not sure there’s an actual idiom that would match very well. You might say, “I’m not getting it…” or “Help me out here…” or something in that kind of situation. But maybe somebody else can come up with a closer expression.
“I’m having a brain fart”
Isn’t that more about getting something wrong in a stupid way? “auf dem Schlauch stehen” is about being fully aware that you can’t access it right now.
“I’m having a senior moment” :)
Lololol.
This is funny, but I’m not sure it’s a good fit. I feel like I have heard “has a senior moment” many times in the news and you’d never hear “steht auf dem Schlauch” there. Also, “senior moment” seems to imply forgetting. “auf dem Schlauch stehen” is more about having a mental blockage that can refer to new ideas going in (understanding) or old ones going out (remembering).
I think “I’m mentally blocked” might be the best match, but I’m not sure either.
“Mentally blocked” = eine Mattscheibe
Anything like a brainstorm?
Lol :).
appart from Korb kriegen i’d heard of none of these.
Tenet btw is a mess the doesn’t really make sense. I think they should have gone for a climate change narrative where the people are coming from the future to battle the people from the past who caused climate change. Because the motive for the whole ending the world thing was perposterous.
Wow, this is a real surprise for me that you didn’t now these. I’m curious if you’ll hear some of them now.
As for Tenet… yeah, it’s got big gaping holes, but at least it made me think a bit, which is more than most modern movies do, which just make me tired. Like Oppenheimer for instance. But yeah, I am scared of watching Interstellar now, maybe it’s just another mid experience that everyone goes crazy over for some reason.
I think he’s genrally a very “mid” director imo. I mean, kinda have enjoyed his films to some extent but in spite of the “big themes” and epic scores theres something absent in them.
“theres something absent in them.”
This!! 100%.
Even the Dark Night felt had that feel to me and part 1 and three of the series REALLY did. I hated part 1 because I was bored and I hated part 3 because it was so much wasted potential. The tone is mature, which is nice, but yeah.
And Oppenheimer… holy shit. Like Temu-“The Wing”… OMG will he get to keep his security clearance. I am on the edge of my seat. I need to know.
Some of it is plain old outright bad too. Like this whole dilema thing with the ferry with the prisoners in one of the batman films. It feels like the kind of contrived philophical dilema that might have been novel if id been 11 when i saw it. Didn’t see Oppenheimar, had zero interest.
That said i do have a soft spot for Inception, in spite of the fact it doesn’t really sustain repeat viewings that well and hinges a lot on “reveals”.
Just off the top of my head i’d spectulate the abscence might be be the lack any kind of nuance or depth to the understanding of human psychology.
I don’t think I’ve heard alter Schwede as an exclamation in BW, but I have heard it as a “greeting” like “digga” or a mild rebuke “do alter Schwede, was machst du da”. Often it is just “alter”. Or maybe I’m getting Alter and Alter Schwede mixed up?
I got full points but I had to lean on the hints.
Hallo,
“these some of the props” (these are some of the props)
“trying to have all the option sound” (trying to have all the options sound)
Question 3: widespread (just the one word)
Question 6: “Your friend German friend” (Your German friend)
Great quiz! I knew “Alter Schwede” und “einen Korb kriegen”, the others I didn’t, but got a few right out of context or the hints :)
I’m in Düsseldorf at the moment and sitting at the Thalia coffee place while I read this and do a few more things on my computer (and please don’t say not to waste my time, because I always do little work/study breaks). It’s really hot today (28) and I went to see Duran Duran yesterday, really good concert!
Enjoy your stay in Bulgaria and bis bald!
“It’s really hot today (28) “
Oh boy, good timing on that concert then. I hear this week will be 38 in parts of Germany. You made it out in time.
I was puzzled by the ‘habt ihr’ in the Korb example???
In ‘Fur ein Appel und ein Ei’ it should be ‘flea market’, not flee market. In English we have ‘going for a song’ for something offered very cheap, but in the flea market context it would more likely be ‘you can get things for next to nothing’.
Thanks, I fixed the flea :)
“I was puzzled by the ‘habt ihr’ in the Korb example???”
Why though?
I thought ‘habt ihr’ was plural.
Oh, it is.
You can use “Date haben” for one person having a date with someone else, or for two people having a date with each other. Like
– Maria and I, we have a date tonight.
That’s what German would say anyway.
The person in the example is asking if the other person and the gym crush have a date.
Does that help?
I’m going on a date tonight. = Wir gehen heute abend gemeinsam weg. is roughly how I’d translate the English.
Sometimes English is more “compact” than German. Other times, it’s the opposite:-)
In German we’d say “spottbillig”.
That was fun, if a bit mystifying and humbling; I’d never heard ANY of these idioms. Your hints for context were excellent – I should have used the one for Q1!
Are you living in Germany at the moment?
It seems to me that American idioms are more related to certain common areas of American life over a hundred and fifty years ago, such as riverboat gambling, betting or the like. German idioms seem more connected with the natural world, the forest etc.
Perhaps I’m wrong.
We are new to this site. Thanks so much. Fun , educational and well put together. Keine Schnappsidee.
Willkommen!
Even though my German is probably about C1 now, I’m very tired today and I read “Ei” as “eye” so was at first very confused how that could be an idiom for something cheap!
Also I like that the quiz included a typing exercise to practice recall and spelling!
An easy mistake to make, since in Luis Bunuel’s “Le chien andalou” that horrific scene in which someone is seen slicing somebody’s eye, is actually a soft-boiled egg!
Das hat Spass gemacht! Selbst als Muttersprachlerin habe ich einen Fehler gemacht, haha.
Was?! Welchen denn??
Kleine Fehler mache ich gelegentlich auch, eher vom Generationsunterschied abhaengig. Manchmal benutze ich Ausdruecke z.B aus den ’60er Jahren, die vielleicht juengeren Leuten merkwuerdig vorkommen:-)
New member here Yayyy. All thanks to everyone who chipped in extra you’ve genuinely made my day (and maybe my future). I’m a student from India working towards studying in Germany one day, and these aticles have really made the language fun for me. Emanuel’s explanations, bits of humor, and etymology make it really enjoyable for me.
I’ll be using this opportunity to learn as much as I can and I hope to one day pass it forward. Vielen Dank, German learning community!!!
So cool! I enjoyed the typing. It really makes you realize how much you thought you registered, but didn’t really get 100%. Thanks!
I hate typing in exercises, that’s why I almost never use it but I feel like I should fade it in in some homeopathic doses every now and then.
Alter Schwede habe ich etwas neu gelernt! Ich finde diese Ausdrucke Übungen toll zu sein. Das Typing ist nicht so schlecht und es hilft mich mit dem Erinnern.
Du, alter Schwede! Wie kommt das denn, dass du hinter schwedischen Gardinen sitzt?
:-)
Das überrascht mich, dass “alter Schwede” neu für dich ist.
Neu aber unter keinen Umstaenden. Wieso?
Schon laengst bekannt ist mir dieser Ausdruck, und zwar wie “hinter schwedischen Gardinen sitzen”, wahrscheinlich von der Vasa-Zeit abgeleitet, als fast ganz Nordeuropa unter dem schwedischen Koenigreich stand.
Dar um fora (Einen Korb geben)
Tomar um fora (Einen Korb kriegen)
I don’t even know why it works like that.
Literally it is:
Give an outside
Get an outside
And if you change the indefinite article in the first one for a definite one, it will mean to get lost
Dar o fora
So you can say
Eu dei um fora depois dei o fora
(I rejected her/him and then i got lost)
Welche Sprache ist das, Hyuri?
Portuguiesisch!
This expression makes a lot of sense to me actually. You’re giving someone an “out”. A bit like showing the door, just that it’s at the VERY early stage :)
Sprichst du auch Portuguiesisch, Emanuel? Voce fala tambien portugues? Eu falo portugnol LOL
Nein :)
Ach so!
Interesting! and also thank you for signing me up for the 1 year subscription, I really appreciate the help and will try my best to learn German. Hopefully I can be able to pay it forward one day.
That was fun! I needed the hints for nearly all of them, and with hints I got 10 points out of 11 (I spelt Alter as Alte).
Krass! Alter Schwede!