Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we’ll have a look at the meaning of
der Hammer
Hammer is a comestible. It’s usually made from porc and it’s either dried, smoked or wet cured. So basically it’s like ham just … hammer.
Wow. “Like ham, just hammer”?!
That must have been one of the unfunniest jokes ever. Oh boy, so much for my new years resolution of making better jokes. But hey… it can only go uphill from here. Or can it.
Anyway… of course, der Hammer is the exact same thing as the English hammer, the tool to put in nails. What you might not know though is just how much Germans like the word.
Let me give you an idea of how common Hammer is – the word Schere means scissors. I use scissors almost every day whereas I use a hammer once a month maybe. Now, when you type in” Schere” on Google you get about 8 million hits. For “Bier”, something that Germans really like, you get 78 million. And now guess how many hits you get for Hammer… … …
it’s freaking 280 Million!!!
Not as much as the 1.5 billion you get for “sex” and the 2.7 billion you get for “Auto” but for instance 2.5 times as many as for “Fußball” and “Bier”.
And even if some of the hits are due to the fact that Hammer is also a name, Germans clearly have something going on with the word.
What exactly?
Well… this idea of force and impact combined with the super easy pronunciation have inspired Germans to use Hammer for what is today: a pretty common colloquial word used to express the idea of “high intensity, high impact” or simply “extreme“.
- Das war der Hammer.
This is a super common way to say that something was either incredibly cool or it is a very unpleasant event or piece of news. And there are many variation based on this…. I tried my best with the translation but I’m open to ideas.
- 15 Euro für ein Bier?! Das ist ja der Hammer.
- 15 Euro for a beer?! That is an outrage.
- Als der Chef uns im Meeting gesagt hat, dass das Projekt gecancelt ist, war das für alle erstmal ein Hammer.
- When the boss told us in the meeting that the project is canceled that was quite the punch in the gut for everyone.
- Die Pommes da sind der absolute Hammer.
- The fries there are the absolute stunner/best.
- “Hey… Ich hatte heute Morgen Langeweile und da hab ich dein Fahrrad repariert.”
“Echt? Du bist der Hammer!” - “Hey… I as bored this morning so I repaired your bike.”
“Really??! You’re the best/shit!”
This use is super common and so established that you can find it in newspaper headlines, especially of the yellow press. But that’s not the only thing you can do with Hammer. Hammer is actually incredibly versatile. Or should I say hammer-versatile? Because that’s what I’d do in German.
- Ich ess nur hammerselten Döner.
- I eat kebab only super rarely.
- Der Wein schmeckt hammerscheiße.
- The wine tastes awful.
- Ich geh’ hammergern in die Sauna.
- I really, really love going to the sauna.
- Das Deo riecht hammerintensiv.
- The deodorant smells super intensive.
- Thomas ist ein oberhammerkrass guter Sänger.
- Thomas is an absolutely, incredibly amazing singer.
Just add hammer to an adjective to make it “super”. And boy do I love this. I think this is actually my favorite intensifiers. The vibe and the flow are just awesome, hammerawesome even. And it works for a wide range of adjectives and adverbs. The only exception I could make out are those ones that talk about elegance, fragility, beauty. Like… hammerschön or hammerfein. I don’t know… it’s not wrong to say that but the vibes just don’t really fit together, in my opinion.
Cool.
Now, when you look at real spoken German you’ll find more ways to use Hammer.
- “Wie war der Film?”
“(Der war) hammer! - “How was the movie?”
“Pure awesome!
- Thomas kommt hammer zu spät.
- Thomas is super late.
- Mein Chef hat mich hammer genervt.
- My boss really annoyed me.
- Der Neue ist hammer der Idiot.
- The new guy is a big idiot.
- Ich hab hammer Kopfschmerzen
- I have a horrible headache.
Looks like, when Germans have to decide between hammer and proper grammar, grammar stands no chance ;).
These last examples are super colloquial though. I hear them a lot and I use them daily but maybe it’s just a regional thing.
The first two we had, the stand alone Hammer and the hammer+adjective, are used all over Germany, I think. Not by everyone of course, but they’re not some crazy niche slang either and if you want to sound a little more native, just throw one in here and there. I mean…. with friends. You wouldn’t complain to your professor that the test was hammerkompliziert… unless he or she is hammercool.
All right. What we could do now is talk about the plural of Hammer and the verb and we could list all the different kinds of Hammers but if you ask me, there’s a better option… we take our Feierabendhammer and open a beer.
And if you’re now like “Wait… what’s a Feierabendhammer?” … well….take a look.
The tool is fun, but the name is just hammer… as in awesome :).
So that’s it for today. This was our look at the colloquialicious word Hammer. If you have any questions or if you’ve heard other uses for it or if you’re a German speaker and you DON’T use Hammer just leave a comment.
I hope you enjoyed it and see you next time.
** vocab **
der Hammer, die Hämmer – the hammer, also: an extreme
der Vorschlaghammer – the sledge hammer
der hammer Vorschlag – the kick butt idea
hämmern – to hammer
die Zange – (pair of) pliers
die Schere (singular) – the scissors
Gur
Meinst du “gut”?
So funny! I can’t wait until I can use “hammer” in conversation!
hammer
Ich höre gerade das Lied “Schöne neue Welt”von Culcha Candela und es gibt einen Abschnitt – “Alle sind Hammer drauf.” Heißt das – “Eveyone’s all riled up”? And could I say “Ich bin Hammer auf”something else? Danke!
“Hammer drauf sein” means something like “to be in a really awesome mood or more generally, to be really cool.
It doesn’t work with “auf” though. In general, you need to think of these words like aus and auf and their (d)r-versions as separate things. They have a similar core idea, but their functions are different.
Cool – thanks!
A)mein Einhorn ist der hammer
B) Diese food ist hammerlecker,aber hammerkalt.
C) Du bist hammer klug
“hammerklug” is one word, and “Food” is “das” so “dieses”.
Other than that, no mistakes :)
I just found this thread and have a question, hope someone is still here to answer me. I’m about to buy a Mercedes E63S (a very fast German car for those who don’t know), and may purchase a personalized (vanity) license plate for it. Among several ideas is a plate which reads “Der Hamr” which I believe would be a double entendre, because 1) it would pay homage to the original Mercedes AMG Hammer cars from the ’80’s, and 2) it would indicate that the car is “awesome, high intensity, high impact and/or extreme” (and since the car has over 600 horsepower, this is fitting). I also like that its two meanings would not be obvious to many people, and only those “in the know” (or those who speak German) would understand the plate.
Is “Der Hamr” correct, or do I want to use “Das Hamr” or some other similar phrase?
Thank you!
William
“der Hamr” is fine, but a German native speaker does need a bit of creativity or humor to make the connection.
Could you make it just “Hammer” without the article?
Hi Emanuel, what about the phrase “einen Hammer bringen”? Jemand hat mir grad gesagt “du bringst nen Hammer” und ich war mir nicht ganz sicher dass ich verstanden habe.
Danke sehr!
Hmm, I’d understand it as something like either “dropping a cool one liner ” or “do something pretty strange/crazy” (like coming half an hour late to the most important meeting ever).
But it doesn’t sound very idiomatic to me. Who said that to you? A German native speaker? From what area then?
Ok, that kinda fits with the context. Yes, it was from a German native speaker from Nordrhein-Westfalen.
We use hammer in a similar way in England. “I went out last night and got so hammered I can’t remember half of it!” – positive experience. “I’ll hammer you if you don’t pack that in” – negative experience.
Wow. Feierabendhammer… where has this been all my life. I need one.
Du bist hammerinformativ :)
Was fuer einen hammer Artikel!
Ich wollte wissen, funktioniert der Hammer auch mit genitiv?
Zum Beispiel: “Du warst der Hammer der Party” – the highlight of the party.
Ich hab’s noch nie so verwendet, aber man würde es auf jeden Fall verstehen, denke ich.
Was Genitiv angeht… hammergängig sind folgende Formulierungen: “Der Hammer der Woche/des Tages/des Jahres etc”
Thank you so much for your course, love it!
Heute haben wir eiskalten Wetter, aber meine lange Unterwȁsche is hammer.
Nice! Nur ein kleiner Fehler: “eiskaltes Wetter” (nicht “kalten”, Wetter ist das)
Thanks for the correction. I am so struggling with Adjektivendungen. I have to find a way to practice them until I have a firm grasp. However, I have been having a blast with Hammer.
Wow, was für ein Hammer Wort. Ich hab es niemals in dieser Sinn gehört. Ich spiele ein parr Apps auf deutsch, die etwas ähnlich wie “es hat sich ausgehämmert” oder so etwas verwenden. Ich wieß laut die erklärung darunter, was sie damit gemeint aber kann mich es auf englisch nicht übersetzen. Wießt du wie es auf englisch sagen würde.
Bonusfrage – welche app spiele ich, die dieser satz enthalt?
kennst du das, dann bist du ja der hammerkerl. Existiert das?
So, ich habe meine Google Skills aus der Scchublade geholt und ich glaube du spielst “Boom Beach” und der Satz kommt irgendwann im Zusammenhang mit General Hammer.
Die Formlulierung ist ziemlich gängig:
– Es hat sich ausgeverbt.
Das heißt so viel wie “That was it with the verbing” in sense of someone is forced to stop doing what they’ve been doing.
Ich glaube, das Beispiel von dir würde ich so übersetzen
– No more hammering from now on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awJOmYSShQw
Oh, that one :)
Here’s the original video (I hope it plays outside Germany)
https://vimeo.com/20363113
Meine Freundin ist gegangen.
Ich stand alleine da, hammer schockiert.
Sie war eine Hammerfreundin aber ich habe alles hammer vermasselt.
Ich hammer vermisse sie. Ohne sie wäre ich ein Zimmermann ohne Hammer.
Hammer scheiße! Was soll ich machen?
Hahaha… hammerobergut!!
Nur eine Sache hat nicht funktioniert:
– Ich hammer vermisse sie.
Dasgeht nicht, denn das Verb muss auf 2.
– ich vermisse sie hammer(doll).
(mit Adjektiv ist hier besser)
I never thought Hammer could be so cool, unless I forget it outside in this Hammerwetter! (Can I use it, sounds a bit like Donnerwetter)
Anyway, It’s only yesterday my colleague told me that they often shorten the pronunciation of words in Schwäbisch, and Hammer becomes Hammr! and Wir haben Hammer becomes Wir habn Hammr.
Thanks Emanuel. You are hammerawesomefantastic!
In Berlin it would be “Wia hamm hamma”. There’s also this joke sentence
– “Hamma hamma nich” (Hammer haben wir nicht)
Meh, not really a joke but anyway.
One thing though. “Hammerwetter” actually sounds positive to me.
When you add hammer to an adjective it just makes that extreme. But when you combine it with a noun, it sounds positive
– Hammerpreis (really good price)
Hammerhammer (really awesome hammer)
ONly if the context is crystal clear, it can sound negative. “Hammergestank” would be “horribly strong stench” for instance. Good thing you tried that out. I wasn’t aware of that nuance before.
I thought wir was supposed to be pronounced wia normally? or am i supposed to pronounce the r
No, you don’t have too. “Wia” is proper… with a short and under-enunciated “a”
This was great, I can’t wait to try it!
Let me know how it went.
Hammergut!
“der hammer Vorschlag”
So not declined then, i.e. not “der hammere Vorschlag” ?
Haha… no, hammer smashes grammar. But that’s really only for spoken German. I think, it is actually a shortened version
– ein hammerguter/toller/… Vorschlag
but it’s completely unclear what exactly is skipped. In theory, it could also be a compound in disguise
– ein Hammervorschlag
but as stupid as it sounds… it doesn’t feel like a compound. I asked a couple of Germans how they would spell something like and they agreed it should be two words. Not representative of course.
Very funny. Hammerfunny even