Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day.
This time, I have a colloquial gem for you because today, we’ll take a look at
The Meaning of “klappen”
You might not have heard of it yet, because courses and textbooks and German learning apps often miss out on it for some reason (the reason is that they’re not so good.)
But I can guarantee you that once you know it, you’ll hear it everywhere. And it’s an absolute must-have if you want to speak idiomatic German.
Today, we’ll explore the verb itself, as well as the related noun die Klappe and some of the prefix versions like aufklappen and zuklappen.
So if you’re ready, let’s hop right in.
***
The base meaning of “klappen”
Some of you have probably notice that klappen looks a fair bit like to clap.
And indeed, the two are related.
klappen and to clap are experts call an onomatopoeia, an attempt to capture a sound in speech, and the sound the two verbs originally imitated was what you hear when two pink swans swim by peacefully…
“Uhm, Emanuel.. I don’t think that’s the so…”
I wasn’t done yet. So the swans swim by and someone starts applauding because it’s so beautiful.
“Why the swans though.”
I’m painting a picture here, okay.
So, the original meaning of clap and klappen was simply the sound of two flat objects hitting each other, but they have drifted apart quite a bit.
To clap has pretty much focused on the sense of hands clapping but that’s actually NOT klappen in German – it’s klatschen.
- Ich klatsche in die Hände.
- I clap my hands.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Why klatschen?
Well, maybe German hands are a bit more moist. Because they’re at that lake with the pink swans. Or Germans just have sweaty hands, I don’t really know. To clap means klatschen and that’s just how it is.
So what does klappen mean then?
Well, think of a big book that you close. That does make a clapping sound, and to get that sound, you “fold” the book.
klappen shifted away from the actual sound to the idea of folding along some sort of hinge and eventually, it lost the sound entirely.
And that’s what it is today. The core meaning is “to fold”.
But it’s a sort of “solid” folding. Folding laundry would not be klappen because it’s not solid at all.
Klappen is for all kinds of “mechanical” things.
In practice, you’ll mostly find prefix versions of klappen, because the folding almost always has a sense of direction.
zuklappen is to close and aufklappen is to open, for a laptop for example.
zusammenklappen is fold together, for a lawn chair. And hochklappen is what you do with your tray table in a plane before landing.
- Der Papa klappt das Buch zu.
- The dad closes the book.
The dad claps the book shut. (lit.) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Im Büro ist es soooo heiß… und man kann die Kackfenster nur anklappen.”
- “It’s sooooo hot in the office… and we can only crank open the crappy windows.”
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Seine Bookmarks kann man ein- und ausklappen.
- You can fold in and fold out your bookmarks.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich klappe meinen Campingstuhl zusammen.
- I fold up my camp chair. (“unfolding it would be “auseinanderklappen”)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wo kann man einstellen, was der Laptop macht, wenn man ihn runterklappt.
- Where can I determine what my laptop does when I fold it.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Little side note here:
German also has the verb falten, the direct relative to to fold. And that covers the “soft” instances of folding, pretty much. Like a blanket or paper. Those are just too soft to klappen.
Unless you’re Chuck Norris, of course. He could fold sheets so hard, the shock wave would burst out windows.
Rest in Peace Chuck. You have me some good laughs in your day.
So, the core idea of klappen is a sort of “solid folding”.
You’ll meet it in various prefix versions, and there are also quite a few nouns have to do with a hinge and folding.
Like Klappstuhl (fold-able chair), Klappfenster (crank open window) or Klapphandy (iFold… coming soon) .
And there is also a stand alone noun: die Klappe.
The Meaning of “die Klappe”
Die Klappe can appear in quite a range of contexts with a range of translations but if you look at the abstract underlying idea, it’s basically always a (flat) thing on a hinge that opens and closes something.
- Der Pirat hat eine Augenklappe.
- The pirat has an eye patch.
- Thomas hat einen Herzklappenfehler.
- Thomas has a heart valve defect.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Schatz, Simba ist definitiv zu fett. Er steckt schon wieder der Katzenklappe fest.”
- “Honey, Simba is definitely too fat. He’s stuck in the kitty door… again.”
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Klappe is also the word for the slate the use in movie sets.
- “The Avengers – Pandemic”: Szene 11, Klappe, die Erste. Und Action.
- “The Avengers – Pandemic”: scene 11, take one. And action.
“Klappe, die x-ste”. This is like THE film business phrase.
But the most common use of Klappe at least in colloquial German might be the phrase die Klappe halten where the Klappe is basically the mouth. A latch on a hinge that opens and closes.
- Thomas kann einfach seine Klappe nicht halten.
- Thomas just can’t shut up/stay quiet.
- Halt die Klappe!
- Shut up/Shut your mouth!
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Große Klappe, nichts dahinter.
- All hat and no cattle.
Large hatch/clapper/mouth, nothing behind it. (lit)(common idiom for people who brag a lot or make empty threats)
Klappe is rougher than mouth, but not as aggressive as Fresse or Maul and with friends it’s totally fine, but with your boss… not really.
Unless your boss is your friend, of course. Then it’s okay. Anyway, I digress.
Now, the examples we’ve seen so far were actually all nouns and prefix versions.
But what makes klappen the must have that it is, is the meaning it has by itself.
“klappen” as “to work out”
By itself, klappen is a colloquial way to express the of to work out in the sense of to go well, to be okay, to function.
And it’s super duper common.
Let’s look at some examples right away:
- Hat das mit dem Umbuchen geklappt?
- Were you able to change the booking?
Did that the altering of the booking clap (lit.) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Frisches Obst und Gemüse nur aus der Region – das klappt nicht immer.
- Produce, fresh AND local – that doesn’t always work/go together.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Now, this usage actually isn’t very old yet.
It evolved during the time of the industrial revolution when workers started associating a clacking sound with the idea of some mechanical part falling into place, something that fits.
Think of a modern car door.
There’s big money being payed to design a discreet, comforting, reassuring, bold, adventurous, kid friendly, independent, vintage, modern, sexy but not too sexy, pleasant but not dull, kick ass clacking sound that lets you know the door is closed. The sound of a mechanical part properly latching into place gives us a sense of satisfaction.
That is how klappen took on the new meaning and even though it isn’t that old yet, it’s already super widespread and common among all ages, peer groups and also contexts.
- Ich hab versucht, was du gesagt hast, aber es hat leider nicht geklappt.
- I tried what you suggested but it didn’t work.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich habe mir vorgenommen, mich bewusster zu ernähren. Es klappt nicht immer, aber ich bin auf dem richtigen Weg.
- I’ve decided to be more conscious about what I eat. It doesn’t always work but I’m on the right path (I feel like this isn’t really idiomatic… let me know what would be better :)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Trainingsplan Bauch: So klappt’s mit dem Waschbrett.
- Belly training schedule: that’s how to get a washboard.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Morgen Treffen klappt bei mir leider nicht.
- I won’t have time tomorrow.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
It would be wrong, though, to say it’s a translation for to work (out).
Bcause in one (grammatical) aspect, klappen is actually more narrow.
- “Was sollen wir essen?”
“Wie wär’s mit Pasta.”
“Is okay für mich/Von mir aus.” - “What should we eat?”
“How about pasta?”
“Works for me.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich muss was aufschreiben… eine Serviette würde reichen.
- I have to write down something…. a napkin works fine.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
In these two example, what works is a noun. Pasta and a napkin get the job done. And klappen wouldn’t work in these examples. Why not?
Well, we can go all back to the very origin. Klappen is the result of a process. There needs to be activity for klappen. And that’s why klappen only works if we’re talking about an activity.
Meeting at 6, eating healthier, fixing the computer, trying something… all these things can klappen. But actual things like napkins or a pasta don’t.
- Ich versuche etwas. Es klappt.
- I try (doing) something. It works.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Und?”
“Also, ich habe jetzt den Server rekonfigublah blah […] blah blah neu installieren.”
“Aahhh…. verstehe. Und? Klappt’s?”
“Mal sehen.” - “So?” (asking the IT guy who is is trying to fix the server)
“Well, I’ve reconfigublah blah […] blah re-install it.”
“Ah… I see. And? Is it working?”
“We’ll see.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Klappt’s and hat’s geklappt are really super common combinations, by the way, and I’m sure you’ll hear them a lot. The ‘s is just a shortened es that refers to what’s being tried.
And another very common combination is klappen mit.
- “Hast du eine Idee, wie ich Fettwein-Flecken aus meiner Hose krieg’?”
“Mit Salz klappt’s bestimmt.” - “Any idea, how I can get fat-wine stains out of my pants?”
“Try salt… that’ll probably work.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Here, mit connects the “tool” and we can nicely see again, that things themselves don’t klappen. The removing the stain with salt is what klappt.
- Mit Maria hat’s leider nicht geklappt.
- It didn’t work out with Maria.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Here, the mit connects the “goal”… in this case Captain Context would fill us in that it was “having a relationship with Maria”. Here are two more examples
- Hat‘s mit dem Praktikum geklappt?
- Did you get the internship?
Did getting the internship work? (lit.) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Hat’s mit dem Salz geklappt?
- Did the salt do the trick?
Did the thing you did with the salt work? (lit.) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
All right.
So this is the meaning that makes klappen so incredibly useful and trust me… it is everywhere. It’s not particularly high German but it isn’t slang either and you can definitely find it in print, too.
And to wrap this up, here’s a nice common klappen-pun.
- Das einzige, was hier klappt, sind die Türen.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Always a good laugh at the weekly meeting if nothing goes according to plan :)
So… this was our German word of the Day “klappen”.
As always, if have any questions or suggestions or if you want to try out some examples of your own just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Oh, if you want to recap the material, I have a learning quiz about it here:
Using “klappen” – The Learning Quiz
I think Klapp may be conjoint with clasp.
I’m on the right path. Could be, I’m on track (or I’m on the right tack if your friends are sailors)
Hey,
I couldn’t find this version of klappen:
“Hab jetzt schon diaröh…
Ich klapp dann ab.”
Difficult to find information on the Internet :-p
It’s a colloquial way to say “collapse” or “break down”. From the context, I’d say the speaker is already worn down with diarrhea and there’s another possible challenge, so they’re saying if this comes on top, that’ll be too much.
Mit den Artikeln von yourdailygerman.com hat getklappt.
is it wired? I kind of want to say learning german with the articles from works. But I’m not sure how to put “learning german” there
You can put it as a noun:
– Mit den Artikeln von Yourdailygerman hat Deutschlernen geklappt.
or as a zu-construct:
– … von yourdailygerman hat es geklappt, Deutsch zu lernen.
The first version sounds better to me here :)
ah yes! Thanks!
I guess in the example
Mit Maria hat’s leider nicht geklappt.
Hat‘s mit dem Praktikum geklappt?
I can also write as “hat es”, right?
Yes, that’s the same thing. The ‘s is just shortened and I wrote it that way because it’s closer to how I talk.
So perfect…this is in the first lesson of the A2/1 course I have joined and the poor teacher could not explain to our very mixed international group!
Wow, “klappen” for an A1 course is a bit too much I think :)
hmmm…then how would you translate ‘Klappe Tuer’?
Not sure what you mean. Do you mean “Klapptür”? Klapptür is a bit of a weird name for the default door. In shopping contexts, they use it to have a distinction to for instance a sliding door or a folding door.
Does that help?
It doesn’t work always with “-ka”, the change usually occurs somewhere in the middle of the word, and quite randomly, when I now think about it:
králík → králíček (bunny)
kočka → kočička (cat)
pes → pejsek (dog)
slunce → sluníčko (sun)
We have a few “templates”, around 4 for masculine, feminine, and neutral nouns, which are used for the conjugation. I think these “cute-esquecation” changes can be derived from them as well.
Man, word endings in Slavic languages… always a good scare :).
One small correction… when you said “conjugation” I think you meant “declension”. They’re the same thing kind of but as far as I know “conjugation” is what you call it for verbs.
Okay, I must ask… What in heck’s holy name is “Fettwein?”
It’s one of these “jokes” that would evaporate if I boiled the whole thing, I think :). Wine distilled from fermented fat. I just feel like having really nonsensical examples sometimes.
Toller Post!
Was der Satz, der um Ernährung geht, angeht, ich würde sagen:
I have decided to be more conscious/more aware of what I eat.
oder
I have decided to watch what I eat. (<–klingt vielleicht komisch aber sagt man ständig, wenn man abnehmen will.)
"Eating consciously" klingt falsch. Nach mir, "eating consciously" würde heißen, "meditieren während du isst". Oder vielleicht dass du dir an Schlaf-essen abgewöhnen willst. :-)
Haha… ja, ich sollte tatsächlich mehr “consciously” essen und nicht immer fernsehen oder Youtube gucken :). Danke für den Input und das Feedback!!
I’ve been over at St. Josephs Krankenhaus a lot lately (long story), where I discovered another “-klappe” compound I’d never heard of before: Babyklappe.
I couldn’t help but compare it to the use of “to click” in English language. It’s a sound and/or can be used to mean something fits together, i.e. it works (out). It could get you some weird looks if you said it exactly like it’s done in German, but still.
– At the very moment we saw each other, we instantly clicked together.
– Did your internship click? (ok, this really sounds awkward haha)
Going further in this comparison, I thought about “Shut your click!”… And I really wish it to be a thing someday hahah
Haha “Halt deine Klicke”… it’s does like “Shot your clique” though, so I think it doesn’t have much of a chance “on the street” :)
Hallo, Darf man auch dieser Begriff im Sinne von “Erfolgen” benutzen? z.B, “Die Zahlung hat nicht geklappt”.Oder kann man Wahlweise in diesem Fall “Durchführen” verwenden. Ich suche eigentlich nach einem passenden Ausdruck zu ( oder für?) “go through”
It actually works for me but it is highly colloquial. So you would never ever find that sentence on a machine. “erfolgen” is by far the best option. “Durchführen” is okay too but you’d need to use passive voice… because the payment is what is being “led”
– Die Zahlung wurde nicht durchgeführt.
– … konnte nicht erfolgreich durchgeführt werden.
As for “to go through”… this is really broad and the translation completely depends on context. “erfolgen” works for money, but not for an application…. oh… sorry für das Englisch. Hab’ nicht aufgepasst und nicht gesehen, dass du auf Deutsch geschrieben hast :)
Hier ist ein gutes Übungslied, “Haifisch” von Rammstein:
Wir halten zusammen
Wir halten miteinander aus
Wir halten zueinander
Niemand hält uns auf
Wir halten euch […]
(rest missing due to German pain in the butt copyright lawyers)
Ich habe das meiste gelöscht wegen… Urheberrecht. Deutschland ist da ein sehr gefähliches Pflaster und ich will lieber auf Nummer sicher gehen. Es haben schon Leute wegen weniger eine Abmahnung bekommen (Abmahnung = ca. 300 Euro plus legal hassle)
Naja, hier ist ein Link. Der kann nicht gesetzwidrig sein oder? ;)
https://herzeleid.com/en/lyrics/liebe_ist_fuer_alle_da/haifisch
Nee… also theoretisch gibt es die sogenannte “Störerhaftung”, die sich eben auch auf Links bezieht, aber das hätte wegen einem einfachen Textlink zu nicht kommerziellen Zwecken wohl kaum Bestand. Aber Volltexte von aktuellen, bekannten Bands wo das Urheberrecht in Deutschland liegt… lieber nicht.
“Niemand hält uns auf” Ich bin mir nicht sicher ob ich das richtig verstehe… Heißt das “wird werden nicht respektiert” oder “niemand könnte uns aufhalten weil wir so schlecht sind”?
Weder noch :). Es heißt, “nobody (can) stop(s) us.”. Check mal den Artikel über “aufhalten”:
https://yourdailygerman.com/2016/07/20/aufhalten-sich-meaning/
I think “shut up” might be the closest equivalent to “halt die Klappe” in terms of function, at least for Americans. “Shut your mouth” would be interchangeable with it, with a closer rhythm. Both are definitely impolite but not obscene or anything. To me, most of the other versions just sound kind of comical:
Shut your…
– …trap
– …yap[per]
– …face
– …pie/cake hole
I think “shut your hole” maybe sounds a little more aggressive and not as funny. But that’s a purely American perspective again. If you want to sound old-timey you could say “hold your tongue.” :) “Hatch” in this case really doesn’t fit, though – I would really only use that when you’re talking about eating or drinking, mostly in the phrase “down the hatch” (basically the same as “bottoms up,” meaning you’re about to gulp something down all at once).
Regarding “auf dem richtigen Weg”… “On the right track” is a bit more idiomatic (again, at least in the US), but “on the right path” would never have struck me as un-idiomatic or awkward. The sentence really sounds fine as-is.
In Britain, “shut your gob” is the closest equivalent. Insulting, but not seriously so.
good post as always. ive not been here in a while, have you missed me? I have been busy with a project in denmark hence the absence. They have german television channels available to watch there and that piqued my interest once again. I was surprised how much i could understand of what was being said, especially at german talkshow speed. Klappen was a word i was familiar with but only in the sense of something working, for example i used to hear “Alles klappt?” a lot in reference to how a machine was functioning. The other versions i had never heard and so i feel enriched once again having had those gaps in my knowledge filled in.
I rather liked the “Halt die klappe” example, before reading the translation i knew exactly what that meant, its the same as saying “shut your trap/hole/mouth” in english, i rather like the scottish version though “haud yer wheesht”.
Interestingly enough we use a similar term in english (well at least in scotland anyway) to describe cars when they dont work. We say “a clapped out old banger” when the car is old/rusted/broken. Does that work in german? I know you could say “Mein Auto klappt nicht” but can you use klappen as a verb to describe the non-functioning thing?
Welcome back! And man, I’m so happy for you to hear dass (ich wechsel’ mal nach Deutsch) du die Takshows so gut verstanden hast. Dieses Erfolgserlebnis hast du echt verdient, da du echt viel Arbeit investiert hast … ist zumindest mein Eindruck :).
A small correction for “klappen”. You cannot really say
– Das Auto klappt.
because a car is a thing and “klappen” works best with activities (phrased as nouns).
– Das Talk Show Verstehen hat gut geklappt.
For mechanical stuff I’d say “funktionieren” or the more general “gehen”
– Das Auto geht nicht.
That’s kind of funny. Course it doesn’t :)
For “clapped out” you could for instance use
– heruntergekommen
or you could say it is “klapprig”. This comes from “klappern” which is a repeated clapping sound. A rattlesnake is called “Klapperschlange” in German. Something that isn’t stable is often referred to as “klapprig” and old cars are often called “Klapperkiste” (rattle box). I don’t know if Klapper-iPhone would work, though :)
“All hat and no cattle” is a great (American) phrase.
In Scotland we say, “Fur coat, nae knickers”.
Why, what’s wrong with that?
I like it too, though I’ve never heard it.
In Kanada sagen wir manchmal “all talk and no action” aber ich dachte, dass das ziemlich gemeinsam wäre… geht das nicht in anderen Ländern?
Das ist für mich total verständlich aber meiner Erfahrung nach ist es so, dass die meisten Redewendungen nur eine Variante von “all talk” ausdrücklich angeben und den Rest stillschweigend andeuten.
– He’s all talk.
– He talks a big game.
– He’s got a big mouth.
– He’s all bark and no bite. (Eher wenn jemand aggressiv bzw. drohend spricht)
Dann gibt’s auch den Klassiker aus Top Gun:
– Your mouth’s writing checks your body can’t cash.
:D
Buahaha… what a phrase :D. Lässt sich aber nur sehr schwer übersetzen, da das ganze Scheckkonzept in Deutschland nicht annähernd so im Alltag verankert ist wie in den USA. Keine Ahnung was die Deutsche Synchro daraus gemacht hat. Wahrscheilich irgendwas “lames”.
“Hey Maverick, dein Mund beauftragt eine Überweisung, die dein Körper aufgrund seines unzureichenden Saldos nicht ausführen kann!”
Mit den Übersetzern kann ich wirklich mitfühlen. :) Wenn der Film auf Netflix auftaucht, dann sag ich dir Bescheid, was sie daraus gemacht haben.
Meine Frau und ich haben uns vor kurzem den schottischen Film The Angels’ Share geguckt. Der wurde in Glasgow gedreht und die ganzen Schauspieler sind alle Glaswegians (Glasgower? Glasweger?) – wir mussten die deutschen Untertitel anschalten, um 75% des Dialogs mitzukriegen. War besonders interessant (und manchmal lustig) zu merken, wie die vielen Fluchworte übersetzt wurden.
Das klingt jetzt aber so, als könnte man das auch für ein Meeting sagen
– How was the meeting?
– All talk, no action.
Stimmt das? Weil “Große Klappe… ” passt wirklich nur für eine Person.
Ja, passt für beides.
Hey, mir fällt noch eine passende Redewendung ein: “full of hot air.”
My personal favourite is “he’s all mouth and no trousers”
Also, ich hab mal versucht, wie ich immer versuche, neue Wörter zu erschaffen, und viele davon kommen sogar vor im Internet. Klappfernseher, Klapptasche, Klappbrot, Klappwand, Klappdusche, Klappbewegung, Klappgeschwindigkei (z.B. bei fleischessenden Pflanzen), Klapprohr, Klapplaut u. Klappgeräusch (k.A. obs Klappton gibt), Klappfahrrad u. Klappauto, Klapphaus u. Klappsofa…
Ja, verstehe ich alles :)… Klappgeschindigkeit ist mein Favorit, wobei ich glaube, dass ich wenn schon dann “Zuklappgeschwindigkeit” sagen würde. Und in der Literatur würde man wohl von Schließgeschwindigkeit sprechen.
Oh, ich hab’ mal überlegt, was keinen Sinn machen würde und dachte an “Klappdecke”… aber nein. Das gibt es natürlich. Es ist die Klappe, die bei Steckdosen die eigentliche Dose verdeckt. Wieder was gelernt, durch experimentieren. Vielleicht sollte ich das öfter machen :)
“Trainingsplan Bauch”
Das erinnert mich: wie heißt eigentlich diese Struktur? Die mit zwei Nomen, üblicherweise ohne Artikel.
Z.B. “Beispielrechnung Strom”.
Poah… sehr gute Frage!! ich glaube sie heißt “knackig”… ach ne, warte, das ist nur der Effekt :). Keine Ahnung, ob die überhaupt einen Namen hat. Hast du mal einen gelesen und erinnerst dich nicht mehr?
Oh kleine Korrektur…
– Das erinnert mich… geht nicht
entweder:
– das erinnert mich an was/die Frage
oder
– Da fällt mir ein:
Hi very interesting. When I read these I thought how it is in my mother language – Polish, as we have a word “klapa” which literally means “die Klappe” but another more idiomatic meaning of ‘klapa’ is however “die Pleite”, so when nothing worked out…. Learning languages is hard when the same word is used in different language in totally different way…
Which reminds me that the Russian word for “clapping” (klatschen) is “khlopat'” (root “khlop”), but it is also used for closing something with a thud, while zakhlopyvat’ is basically an “energetic” zuklappen.
zakhlopyvat, zuklappen… Russian and German are basically the same language :D
Ich habe grad mitgekriegt, dass russisches “risovat'” = “zeichnen, malen” aus dem deutschen “reissen” stammt :D
Genauso wie “write” wenn ich mich richtig erinnere.
Yeah, definitely. I don’t know any Polish unfortunately. It would be great considering how close Berlin is but I’ve heard it is super difficult and super sophisticated so maybe it’s not the best entrance to the Slavick languages. More like level 10 final boss :)
In Slovak (and Czech) we also have the word “klapa” or “klapačka”, both meaning “die Klappe” (the first being maybe a bit more rude/sharp).
The verbs klapnout/klapnúť (czech/slovak) mean “klappen” in a sense “to work out”, and the usage is basically the same.
The movie “Klappe” is “klapka”, which is something like “Klappchen” :)
It just hit me that “Tschapka” might be “Mützchen” :). Looks to me like “-ka” and “-chen” are the same thing. Can you add it to random nouns to make them small and cute?
Auf Russisch heißt es schapka und bezieht sich in der Tat auf eine Mütze, nicht auf einen Helm. Du hast zwar recht, dass das Suffix -k- “verkleinernd” wirkt, aber zumindest im Russischen wurde das Wort “schapka” lexikalisiert, d.h. es gibt bei uns keine “schapa” (große oder normalgroße Mütze), und um die Mützenwinzigkeit (funktioniert das? ich habe es halt ausprobieren müssen ;)) zum Ausdruck zu bringen, verwendet man das Suffix -otschk- – schapotschka.
Hahaha… ja, Mützenwinzigkeit ist super. Mir ist noch was eingefallen… was ist mit…… …. … Vod-ka. War das auch mal eine Verkleinerung???
Verkleinerung für “Vodka” wird “Vodotschka” ([водочка]). Und gleicherweise gibt es Diminutiv für “schapka” – “schapotschka” (weil “schapka” jetzt gilt als “normal”, nicht als Diminütiv. Sowie auch gibt es “sosulka” aber keine “sosula” oder “bulotschka” aber keine “bula”)
Ah, danke :)