Hello everyone,
day 12 of our German is Easy Advent Calendar. Today, we’ll learn how to properly
express meh!
in German. And just in case you don’t know what I mean by that… I mean how to say that something was just okay, less than stellar, so-so, okay-ish, passable, tolerable.
And we all know what perfectionist pain in the butts Germans are. If something is not absolutely and utterly perfect, then it’s not good. It’s meh. Or in German:
- geht so
It’s short for “Es geht so” which is literally something like “It gets a pass the way it is.” But it’s really not enthusiastic at all. Geht so really is THE equivalent of meh.
Examples:
- “Na, wie war der Film.”
“Geht so.” - “How was the movie?”
“Meeehhh!”
- “Und Schatz, wie war ich?”
“Geht so.“ - “So honey, how was I/it?”
“You were fine, it was fine.”
- “Hast du was gelernt?”
“Naja, geht so. Ein bisschen was ist schon hängengeblieben.” - “Have you learned something?”
“Well, it’s okay. Some bits did get stuck in my head.”
- “Bist du wieder gesund?”
“Geht so. Schon noch ein bisschen angeschlagen.” - “Are you healthy again?”
“Well, sort of/yes and no. Definitely still a bit under the weather.”
- “Wie gut ist dein Deutsch?”
“Hmm.. geht so. Ich bin noch nicht zufrieden.” - “How good is your German?”
“Meh… so so. I’m not satisfied yet.”
I guess we should note that geht so never comes in combination with to be. So you don’t say something is geht so. You just say something geht so.
- Dein Kleid geht so.
- Dein Kleid ist geht so…. WRONG!
A common alternative is so lala, but this one is limited to judging between positive and negative. So it’s a bit more narrow than geht so.
- Das Wetter war so lala.
- The weather was so-so.
And of course we need to mention ganz ok. It’s a bit more positive, conciliatory sounding than geht so but still it’s clear that there’s much much room for amelioration… uh… I mean improvement.
- “Wie war der Deutschkurs?”
“Ich hatte ein bisschen mehr erwartet, aber nee… war schon ganz ok.” - “How was the German course?”
“I had expected a bit more, but no… was passable for the most part.”
- “Wie gefällt dir meine neue Frisur?”
“Pfff… ja, ist ganz ok.“ - “How do you like my new hair-do?”
“It’s sufficient.”
And that’s it for today. Now you know how to properly … oh… hold on… we actually have a call here. Weird. Like… how do you even call in to an Advent Calendar. Anyway, Stephanie from San Francisco, welcome to the show.
“Hi Emanuel, thanks for taking my call.”
Sure….
“I’m really, really shocked right now. Like… duuuude. Do Germans really tell someone to their face, that their hair-do is ‘sufficient’?!?! Like… I knew Germans are direct and all, but this is so mean.”
Hahaha… no, I was kidding… that’s not really something people would do.
“Phew thank God!”
But for a soup you made, they might actually do that.
“Well… I guess I’m gonna have to get used to that. I’m gonna go to Germany next year, you know.”
Oh cool… well, yeah, if this happens to you don’t take it too seriously. It’s actually a sign of affection because they’re being honest.
“Hahaha… all right. Thanks.”
Thank you for calling.
And to all you guys out there, thanks a lot for listening. Now you know how to properly express the meh and you can actually start practicing in the comments right away by telling me how you liked this post.
Wait… actually, forget that last bit :).
Anyway, what are your experiences with geht so? Have you used it? Have you heard it? Has a German hurt your feelings with it? Let me know in the comments below.
Schönen Tag euch und bis morgen.
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SUPER LECKER!!!!
Would you also use “geht [or “passt”] so” in a situation where you’re trying to tell somebody, “It’s fine, doesn’t have to be perfect, stop fiddling with it”?
I guess yes. But then I’d definitely use an article “Das passt so” and also add a “call to action” like “Lass mal” oder “Komm, hör auf.”
Little side note:
“Passt so” is what I usually say when I give tip. Like… bill is 9 Euro, I’d give a 10 and say “Passt so”
Just a quick one. Is there a good way of using the response ”geht so” for ”Wie gut ist dein Deutsch?” while specifying that it’s speaking that I’m currently not so good at (whereas reading/listening/understanding etc. I can do much better)? Because I totally always want to say this when I speak to people in Germany! ”Look, I know I sound like I have know idea how to speak German but I promise I can understand you and read die Bild Zeitung and laugh watching ZDF ! You gotta believe me man!”
You could say “Hmm… naja, sprechen geht so, aber verstehen kann ich schon ziemlich gut.”
Da würde dann jeder denken “Wow, wie idiomatisch.” :D
Hey Emanuel, thanks for all your useful posts.
It would be great, if you could also post some explanation in using “aber, doch, ja, schon” in German sentences. For example sometimes they say “das ist ja klar” or “das ist doch klar” and so on. I cannot figure it out, how to use them properly.
Hey Ned, “ja” is still on the to do list but I do have an article on “doch” and “schon”. You can find them in the archive. When you have questions about it then, just let me know.
How did you come up with “sufficient” for a hair cut?? Now that sounds positively odd to me :-) Pretty sure no one would say that in English!
I wanted it to sound as emotionless as possible :)
“Sufficient” just belongs to a totally different register, that’s the main thing… Like saying “Die Frisur ist ausreichend” or something.
That’s fine then. I wanted it to sound somewhat alien.
I think you’ve achieved that goal :-)
ha ha, I use “geht so” often enough, and this explains why people always ask follow-up questions…
Hi Emanuel, thanks again – I really enjoyed this post. It’s true, these are the things that as a German learner are invaluable, but never appear in textbooks!
Please could I ask is ‘geht so’ the same as ‘passt schon’? I’m just wondering because I once apologised for my terrible German to a lady in a shop and she laughed and said, ‘passt schon!’.
Oh, thanks for bringing up “passt schon”. That sounds WAY more positive and agreeing than “geht so”. It’s a genuine pass. It’s not perfect but it’s fine, you’re at peace with the thing and you don’t feel the urge to improve it.
In that context, she was saying “don’t worry about it”, whereas she wouldn’t have said “geht so”. So in this context, it had a different meaning, but they are actually sometimes interchangeable – for example, if someone asked you “Wie geht’s?” you could say “geht so” (slightly more negative) or “passt schon (or scho in Bavaria) – slightly more positive
This was a great topic. I have some German friends who are like family and over the years they have told me that after a really nice meal they will say “Nicht schlecht” or “nicht so schlecht” – almost tongue in cheek about the meal when in fact the meal was excellent – I have felt this is kind of a German thing in that they are very reserved about praise – but I could be wrong here. This to them is a very nice compliment to the chef/cook.
On the other hand we tried this in France one time with friends there and it was not well received. I think the French are a bit more touchy about this. I have also over time heard “ganz gut” and “ganz in Ordnung” and never felt that it was anything other than very good. Maybe I was misinterpreting but I don’t think so as it was directed at a nice job by their children.
Yeah, Germans really have to relax a bit there and say it was “Guuuut.” Doesn’t hurt and everyone feels better :). I think it’s this hedging/skeptical character trait that keeps Germans from emoting or giving genuine praise A distant child of German Angst maybe :)
As for “ganz gut”… it is definitely less good than just a well announced “Guuuut” :)
Eine guuuute Lektion Herr Professor, danke!
Haha… danke :)
I think you always have to make allowances for tone and context with these kinds of expressions.
For my part, “not bad” sounds pretty positive to me in English, and I’d even use it (with the appropriate tone) to compliment something that is obviously excellent, like ze Germans might.
I totally disagree – if I were invited to a nice meal at someone’s house, I would most definitely NOT say “das war nicht schlecht” – I would find that utterly impolite! I would praise the meal probably even if I didn’t like it. Maybe it’s once again a regional thing – I know that Emmanuel is from Berlin, and honestly, Berliners do have a bit of a reputation for being rather gruff and grumpy…:-)
Righfully so. We carry our hearts on our tongue, as they say. And we really do. Whenever I meet (sober) British people for instance I get REALLY weirded out by how polite they are.
Shame on me, but what area were you from again? (I know you told me before, I should have remembered).
Oh while we’re at it… how would you praise the meal? Like… how would you phrase that? That’s probably interesting for many readers.
There’s a difference between speaking your mind and being borderline impolite, though ;-) Anyway, I’m from Bavaria (where people also have a reputation for being somewhat on the “reserved” side, to put it nicely!). As for how to praise a meal – gosh, there are many ways of saying that, aren’t there? Das war phantastisch, das war super lecker…
I’ve lived in English speaking countries for 9 years now, so I think my perception of what people say and how they are saying it has changed somewhat…
“super lecker” is something I would say (if it really blew me away) but phantastisch would feel phony if I said it :).
In response to person243 (second comment): What?! Really? I need to stop speaking German. Why hasn’t anyone ever told me about “ganz” before?! These are the kinds of things you don’t learn studying on your own. Okay, honestly I don’t speak much German anyway, but “ganz gut” or “ganz toll” is certainly something I would have felt confident enough to say —and may have said. Ugh!
I actually have an app for that… I mean, an article :
https://yourdailygerman.com/2013/01/30/meaning-ganz/
It’s a little more complicated than that – because it can actually be used in a positive way, depending on context; for example, if a kid showed you a trick or played a piece on the piano for you or something, you would say “das hast du aber ganz toll gemacht” – and you’d mean it. Basically, “Great Job”!! If you’re not an almost fluent German speaker, I would probably recommend not to worry about these more idiomatic things too much – you’ll go crazy if you do!!!
It has been a year since i got in touch with your blog,… So helpful amd i thankful to u man
Yeay, our one year anniversary :)
Interestingly there are some phrases that objectively don’t sound much better than this “geht so” but are indeed rather positive in German. Such as: “nicht schlecht” and its brother “gar nicht mal so schlecht” (lit. not (all that) bad). From many Germans that is the highest praise you can expect.
On the other hand the particle “ganz” which is objectively something that intensifies, in the context of praises and evaluations, it is normally a bad sign. “Ganz in Ordnung” is rather bad. You don’t won’t to hear “ganz gut” if you are a perfectionist. Because it means “everything considered ( you are a beginner, the weather was bad, I did not expect much anyway…) it is good”. And “ganz toll” is normally used sarcastically meaning: “Oh, that is just great, (I really wished to do the whole work again, thank you so much).”
Hahaha… yeah, “Ganz ok” is hell for a perfectionist (I’m speaking from experience here). And yes, Germans really love to use negated or toned down negatives as praise.
In Berlin, a pretty common thumbs up is
– Da kann man nicht meckern
– Can’t complain about that.
which is roughly the equivalent to “absolutely amazing” :).
The owner of the bar where I work likes to say “Nicht gemeckert ist genug gelobt.” (not complaining is enough praise. Staff finds that mindset “geht so”.
I’ve also heard “nicht angeschissen ist genug gelobt” :0
The “da kann nicht meckern” one is essential vocab for anybody living in Berlin. Usually sounds more like “dakammanichmeckan” though :)
Janz jenau.
Immediately tried it at work.
First tried “geht so”, and the reaction was: what’s wrong??
So I took it back and tried “ganz ok”, and then the reaction was better.
The person I spoke to told me that if something is wrong and I want to talk about it, then I should use geht so. Otherwise ganz ok is the way to go.
I had a feeling that was the case, but wanted to check it in a real conversation :)
Haha… great, thanks for the field study :)
Does the negation of the phrase mean anything? Like to express absolute dissatisfaction / unacceptability : “das geht NICHT so ! ” ?
I ask because in French, “ça va”, which is similar, is sort of “vanilla” as an assessment, and its negation : “…mais ça va PAS ! ” is a pretty good way to express that you are totally unhappy with something/someone.
Great series of mini-lessons by the way. I’m picking up tonnes of vocabulary from the examples !
“Das geht (ja mal) gar nicht!” = “That is so not okay!”
The “so” evaluates here how it “goes”. And it is midway between good and bad. Naturally it would still be midway if negated so you don’t do that.
Oh… “geht garnicht” is a good one. Very colloquial and very common, for all kinds of contexts
– “Wie findest du mein neues
Hemd.”
“Der Schnitt ist ok, aber das Muster geht garnicht.”
– “How do you like my new shirt?”
“The cut is okay but the pattern is an absolute miss.”
Yeay, vocabulary is what it all comes down to in German. Good thing you pick that up.
As for “geht nicht so”… yes, that means “It’s not okay that way” but you’d only use it in specific situations. Like… you ask your boss if a certain part of a presentation is okay and she says “No, we’ll have to change that.”
It’s pretty much like the French negative, I think.