10 Essential IDIOMS That GERMANS Just Cannot Live Without. Every German Learner Needs These!

Morning all😊. Where any of these Idioms new for you? Which is your favourite? If you’re thinking about brushing up on you language skills check out Lingoda
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Edit: Thank you everyone for pointing out some errors which I made.
1. "über Deinen Schatten springen" is correct. I left off the "en" in deineEN which is not correct
2. einen Kater haben - has nothing to do with cats. It originates from the word Katarrh or in English catarrh. This is a condition which affects the nose and throat and leads to a build up of mucus.
3. "Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" is best translated as - to not get carried away with.
4. "Das Gelbe vom Eier sein" is used almost exclusively in the negative form.
Thanks a lot

"Die Beine in den Bauch stehen" is a really good example of the German "Wechselpräpositionen", where "in" goes with Dativ in case of a place and with Akkusativ in case of a direction. So "in den (Akkusativ) Bauch stehen" really means standing with the result that the legs move into the belly = become shorter. In English it would be "standing your legs into the belly".
Sorry, couldn't hold my horses, I'm a German teacher..... 😉

An alternative to "Auf dem Schlauch stehen" would be "Eine lange Leitung haben". It means that you need a huge bit longer to get it.
And when I'm just there, there is the idiom "Der Groschen ist gefallen." That is from the times, were Germany had D-Mark and Pfennige. A Groschen is a coin worth 10 Pfennig. That idiom means "Now I get it." And the reason, why the former idiom reminded me of that is, there is another idiom: "Der Groschen fiel pfennigweise." That also means, that you needed longer times to get it. The Groschen fell one Pfennig at a time.

An idiom that I often hear here in northern Germany is "Was der Bauer nicht kennt, das frisst er nicht" (What the farmer doesn't know, he doesn't eat). This means that someone is suspicious of something strange, prefers to keep his distance and remain true to his habits. This can refer to food as well as to foreign customs and cultures. It is also partly applied to simple-minded people who are not very open to foreign cultures and are sceptical of everything new.

"Ich habe einen Kater" comes from the medical word and illness "catarrh". By sound shifting and unknowing the real spelling it became "Kater".

"Kraut und Rüben" are not two different plants but only the turnip and the leaves of the turnip, which is called Kraut in german. When you harvest the turnips manually you leave the leaves on the turnip and throw them on the trailer, where they lie higgledy-pickledy mixed together.

I also like 'uber den eigenen Schatten springen' (to jump over ones own shadow) and I think the meaning of getting out of your comfort zone is not wrong. But it can also mean to face up to a reality that one finds hard to accept. Like the shadow that follows you can be a shadow of the past you sometimes need to jump over in order to move on, accept a fresh perspective. Which admittedly is like getting out of your comfort zone but on a very personal level.

Many people say in order to master the German language you should learn the German card game "Skat" (e.g. die Hosen runter lassen, noch etwas in der Hinterhand haben, Farbe bekennen) as well as read the book "Faust" by Goethe (das ist also des Pudels Kern, ein Buch mit 7 Siegeln). As you can see there are plenty of very important idioms and words rooting back to those.

Personal favourite of mine: "Jemandem ein Ohr abkauen", or literally "to chew someones ear off".
It's used to describe circumstances where one person talks to another and keeps going on an on about something without taking a hint that the other person really isn't actually interested in the topic or even listening.

A theory for the origin of"Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" is that during processions there where different altars build in the village. If the village was small the people would build altars outside of the village and making the village bigger than it is.

"Über seinen Schatten springen“ is not simply "leaving your comfort zone". It is used for challenging someone to do something that is actually hard for them though they know that it is the right thing to do. To choose a current example: If Harry would be asked to forgive William (or vice versa), he probably would say: "I know I should forgive him - but it is really hard for me "über meinen Schatten zu springen". 😬

Interesting video, as always. Personally I have never heard the Apotheke-idiom in Northern Germany.

You might have fun reading "Wie Berenike auf die Vernissage kam" by a certain Klaus Bartels. He explains quite pleasantly the history behind German words and phrases.

I hadn't heard "Das ist eine Apotheke"
I had heard and use myself the term "Apothekenpreis"
for items in stores.

I noticed that people from the UK are exceptionally good in pronouncing German fluently. It seems like second nature and this guy's accent is really good. props!

In Dutch we also have the same expression 'einen Kater haben' 'een kater hebben'
I just always though 'kater' was a homonym that meant either a bob cat or a hangover and that the words didn't necessarily have anything to do with one another.
Like the object 'ball' and the social event 'ball'. ['Bal' in Dutch also has those two meanings.]
Or like a 'bank' that keeps your money or 'bank' at the side of a river [In Dutch 'bank' could mean the place that keeps your money, or a bench]

Very interesting! I don't use "...das Gelbe vom Ei" in a positive way - only "...das ist NICHT das Gelbe vom Ei". I don't remember anybody using this for positive things. Maybe it is a regional thing? I live in NRW. Thanks for comparing - I love to learn some English idioms that you don't learn at school 😉

Dear sir I've just started learning German!! This was fantastic! Thank you so much! You've made my day!

*Talk One's Head Off* was a booklet of idioms comparing English versions with their nearest German counterparts I got almost 40yrs ago. it helped enormously back then. maybe there are more comprehensive collections out there today
6:50 'kraut und rueben' could be translated as _it's all haywire_
8:37 'jemanden ueber den tisch ziehen' - think _to sell someone a pup_

"Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" does, according to my experience after 55 years as german native speaker, mean not to migrate a discussion and transfer arguments or facts to topics or questions they simply don't fit.
So I would translate "Jetzt lass mal die Kirche im Dorf" as "don't exaggerate, stick to the topic, don't get carried away, don't overinterpret the arguments or the facts, back to the common thread and the proven facts of our discussion"

0:54 An alternative which is commonly used is "Bleib mal auf dem Teppich" (literally "Stay/Come back on the carpet") . It implies that someone refers theorethical or idealistic opinions/situations (maybe even cloud chasing) and needs a reality check.
6:08 Kater describes a kind of ongoing pain, with a kind of dull feeling (like exhaustion). I don't know the origin but it is also used in other idioms like "Muskelkater" (muscle soreness).
An alternative idiom for hangover is "Ich habe einen über den Durst getrunken" or "Ich habe zuviel getrunken", which both could be roughly translated as I drank too much.
8:17 The idiom most of my friends used is "waiting for ages" to descripe this feeling.
9:08 In general if something is expensive it refers to gold . Like "16,5 € für ein Glas von Coca Cola? Was!! Sind die Gläser aus Gold!" (literally 16.5 € for a glas from Coca Cola? What!? Are they made of gold?"). Otherwise if you want to express (unnecessary) luxury you use the idiom "goldene Wasserhähne" (literally "golden tap").

Kater is malapropism of Katarrh, so equivalent for feeling ill.
Thanks for the video. I love those idioms too and love to learn idioms in other languages. They can tell a lot about the country they are used in.

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To this day, I have never heard the idiom "Das ist eine Apotheke" other than someone actually pointing at a pharmacy. Must be a highly regional idiom.
Btw, (as an opposite) if you want to point out that something is very cheap you can use the idiom "für einen Apfel und ein Ei" ("for an apple and an egg"). The meaning probably derived from apples and eggs being one of the most common (and cheapest) items out there - at least in the past.
For example: I got that bike for "an apple and an egg" -> I paid almost nothing for that bike. ("Ich habe dieses Fahrrad für 'nen Apfel und 'nen Ei bekommen.")

"Schuster, bleib bei deinen Leisten" ("cobbler stick to your last") meaning "stick in your social order", as well as "stick to
what you do best" in a more modern use. I like the change from a supressing idiom to a slightly empowering one, "Stick to yourself" .

These idioms and others do indeed play a key role in daily German life. Like you, I love the shadow- jumping one. The thumb-pressing one has never felt right to me,so to this day I continue to say and do "Cross my fingers" 😀 I am sure you know that in Germany we talk of "having the green thumb" rather than having green fingers (?). 😉

Mastering idioms is one of the final steps to mastering a language beautifully. Listening to others and me talking, language gains expressiveness with idioms, i.e. instilling a colourful idea in somebody else's mind. Sadly, however, my English students know fewer and fewer idioms, and they dreaded the last exam where part of the tasks involved looking up idioms and paraphrasing them. None of my 29 students knew "ins Gras beißen", i.e. "to bite the dust".
08:27 - imho, "to bite the bullet" is more akin to "über seinen Schatten springen"; however, the nicest rendering would be "in den sauren Apfel beißen".

I've got s few more suggestions, such as "den Löffel abgeben" = handing in the spoon for dying, "nicht alle Tassen Schrank haben" ( not having all the cups in the cupboard ) for being off your head, "das Blaue vom Himmel versprechen" ( promising the blue of the sky ) which means making great and unfulfillable promises, "weder Fleisch noch Fisch sein" ( works the same in Spanish ) - being neither meat nor fish for being so much in between two options that you aren't definable or trustworthy, " einen vom Pferd erzählen" telling somebody of his horse meaning basically making up ( unbelievable ) fake stories. These are just a few.

"Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" also has an undertone of a moral instance, it means to leave your personal moral on the high shelf you created for it and accept the fact that moral differs in every person. It's a reminder not to lift a moral standard to an unreachable level for others because you think you are a more moral person.
"Über den eigenen Schatten springen" also includes a request to the person you direct it to. It means: You should overcome your own ego, your own self. Your shadow is a picture of your self, beat it and overpass it.
"Das ist doch eine Apotheke" reffers to the small product you get for a high price. You pay your social security by nearly 50% of your salary for health insurance dictated and enforced by the government and nearly the same amount has your boss to pay for you, also enforced by the government. Although there is being paid that much money you only receive these little pills by the pharmacy which are being paid for by the health insurance.

Lately explained "Um den Pudding fahren/laufen" ("Drive/walk around the pudding") to an English friend, which means to walk a long way and not really getting far, for example when looking for a parking place for 30 minutes driving around the same block. Or as in our case to find the entrance to the Tube station.
Never heard the Apotheke one. 🤔

You have to get yourself "English for Runaways" (Englisch für Fortgeschrittene). It would be the propper reading on this topic.
In it there are idioms translated one to one with some cartoon. I love it. Love your vids!

The "Kater" was originally "Katzenjammer" - the cat's wailing. Imho a very figurative expression for describing the feeling of a hangover...
It presumably became a "Kater" in the 19th century in Leipzig students' circles, and there is also a story about a beer from the town of Stade called "Kater", which "grates the man who drunk too much of it in the head at the morning" (a very rough translation from a saying in 1575).

There is one that mainly comes up when talking about translating German idioms into English. It's not rare, but it seems to be more prominently used as an example than in the original meaning, and that is "Da bist Du auf dem Holzweg", famously badly translated as "there are you on the wood-way" (actually, it's mostly "you are mistaken").

One of my favourites is "Ulen un Kraihen", probably a Northen thing only, basically translating to "owls and crows" literally, but I've heard it for unreadable handwriting as well as a very curvy/not straightforward path that turns left and right and up and down until you finally get to the end of it and I can't think of anything else encompassing it so well :D

I would translate "sich die Beine in den Bauch stehen" with the idiom "standing there like a penny waiting for change", since the German expression means "standing there waiting for an excessively long time"

I love how you explore and learn! You are the best example for somebody who hasn't been born in Germany to understand, how to integrate.
I have migrated from Germany to Australia and have been faced with all the issues. you talk about.
I have been here for 34 years, and I suppose I am part of it, but I can't get rid of my accent, which could be a good topic for a future show of yours.
You are welcome anywhere on earth, because you show respect for culture and curiosity, that is all that matters.

"Schublade" translates as drawer (not draw) or literally: "Push-loader".
But as an idiom it is used a a categorizing metaphor: "Jemanden in eine Schublade stecken" = 'To put someone in a drawer (category)'

There are many idioms in German which do have a military background. Like 0815 (pronounced Null Acht Fünfzehn) meaning ordinary, nothing special. The phrase was coined in WW1 where 0815 was the model number of the standard german machine gun. Also the phrase "ich verstehe nur Bahnhof" was originally used by WW1 soldiers at the front who only wanted to get home (by train). I believe more in East Germany the term "geht ab wie ne V2" (runs like a V2) was used referring to something being very fast (usually in the context of bikes and cars). It refers to the V2 ballistic missile developed in Nazi Germany (which was BTW the first artificial object to travel into space).

You have picked the pretty hardest one to start with :) "Kirche im Dorf lassen" goes way beyond exaggeration or holding back the horses, as in any context used it comes back to the historical aspect of German society: it is wrapped around the church (well, it used to be shall we say?).
In the core it goes back then to "whatever we argue on there is unquestionable foundation" ... with all awkwardness belonging to it.
Great job, thank You.

Die Kirche im Dorf lassen also means "don´t brag too much".
"Das ist eine Apotheke" is used to say that in this particular shop you´ll pay significantly inflated prices for the same products/brands compared to other shops.

I really like "Stehen auf dem Schlauch" (Standing on the hose). I use it so often because it's so literal.
I teach volunteer emergency medical technicians for disaster relief and event security. They have a relatively short training time but bear great responsibility. Obviously, one core element of the training is CPR. And while CPR is really easy for people providing first aid (just recognize someone is unconscious and not breathing normally, start pushing down on their center of chest twice a second, hard and fast, and obviously call an ambulance to receive further instructions; if an AED is present, use it, these defibrillators talk to you and give you very easy instructions), CPR is very hard for our volunteer medics, because they just have so many things to juggle. Other than giving chest compressions and using a defibrillator, they also have to call in appropriate reinforcements and manage their arrival, be ready to use their suctioning pump to clear vomit out of the airway whenever necessary, use a (rather hard to seal) ventilation bag connected to an oxygen bottle to give ventilations, and later secure the airway and reduce the risk of vomit aspiration by inserting a laryngeal airway tube, which requires juggling a variety of tools and has balloons that have to be inflated JUST RIGHT to provide good seal without damaging the patient. They're also expected to be able to prepare (although not administer) emergency medications like adrenaline and amiodarone, as well as an IV (preparation only, they're not allowed to insert it). All the while, they must remain calm and collected. They have one or two days of training for their CPR skills before their CPR. You can't imagine the amount of hoses you can literally stand on. Why is oxygen not reaching the patient? Are you standing on the oxygen line? Why couldn't you reach the suction pump faster? Were you kneeling on the suction catheter? Why isn't the iv running properly? Well, are you standing on the hose? So many opportunities to stand on hoses in real life. It's a great picture to draw to clear up stress in these situations: If you feel like things simply aren't working properly and you don't know why, if you have a feeling of being mentally disconnected from the procedures or too stressed to think straight, if you feel stupid for not understanding why things aren't going according to plan during your CPR exam... Well, maybe you're simply standing on the hose. Take a literal step back and reassess the situation and suddenly you won't feel stupid anymore.
... No idea why I wanted to say this, but I really like that idiom.

It is suspected that the word Kater for hangover is kind of a cacography of the term Katarrh (catarrh in English). Nowadays the term Katarrh does refer to a mucositis specifically but back in the day it referred to a cold or discomfort in general.

"Auf dem Schlauch stehen" - your alternative "I'm not following" is usable only when you have that mental blockage while someone else is trying to explain something to you. But I can use "Irgendwie stehe ich auf dem Schlauch" also as part to indicate a mental blockage when you're trying to ask someone for help -- in which case it's more along the lines of "somehow I'm stuck" (as it's not the thought process of the other person you can't follow).

There is also the idiom "Mit der Kirche ums Dorf fahren" which means taking a huge detour.
Germany + Thumbs Up
Über dein*en* Schatten springen! Don't forget the -en ending!
Schlauch is written this way.
"Kraut und Rüben" also has the local version of "Wie bei Hempels unterm Sofa" (Like under Hempels Couch)
"Die Beine in den Bauch stehen" also has another version known as "Wurzeln schlagen" (growing roots)

Ich hatte eine Freundin , die unserem amerikanischen Gast ein deutsches Sprichwort in Englisch erklären wollte. "Liebe geht durch den Magen" Sie sagte natürlich "Love goes through the stomach" Sie können sich wohl lebhaft vorstellen , dass das NICHT funktioniert hat. Danke für Ihre exakten Erklärungen!

In the north-east we call a hangover "Kater haben" as well, but more often than not we also just call it "einen Schädel haben" (literally: "to have a skull"). Easy to understand, after a night of drinking your head hurts. But believe me when I say people in this area drink *heavily* and *way too much* , so they're kind of toughened up in that regard. If you have a Schädel, that isn't just a mean headache, it's a solid, seemingly down to the bone-hurting horror hangover. lol

8:23 Who ever wants to understand the meaning of "Die Beine in den Bauch stehen" get a trainticket for a long ride with many stops and "short" waiting times at the trainstation till your followup train arrives. Do this once and you will exactly know what we mean with this little phrase.

Außer der Sache mit der Apotheke wird alles auch in Österreich benutzt, auch Kraut und Rüben ist noch sehr gebräuchlich. Zu dem ersten Beispiel mit dem Belassen der Kirche im Dorf ist mir noch etwas Zweites eingefallen, nämlich "mit der Kirche ums Kreuz gehen", dh etwas viel umständlicher tun als eigentlich notwendig. Einfacher wäre es zweifelsohne mit dem Kreuz um die Kirche zu gehen.

"Das ist eine Apotheke" can also be used differently, like "Das kannst Du auch gleich in der Apotheke kaufen" (You could buy this straight from the pharmacy) if somerhing is overpriced. It reffers to a time, when earliest motorists like Bertha Benz had to buy their fuel (a benzine named Ligroin) at the pharmacy because it was used for cleaning and for wound treatment. It was sold in small bottles mostly less then one liter and it was wildly expensive. That is where the idiom originated.

A lot of typical German idioms have their origin in boxing, for instance
"in den Ring steigen" (enter the boxing ring -- face a fight/conflict),
"das Handtuch werfen" (throw in the towel -- give up / give in / back down),
"hart im Nehmen sein" (being tough in taking hits -- being resilient),
"angezählt sein" (being counted -- being weak after taking some heavy blow from an opponent (also metaphorically))
"unter die Gürtellinie gehen / unter der Gürtellinie sein" (go / be below the belt line -- behaving unfair and despicable)
"über alle 12 Runden gehen" (go for all 12 rounds -- fight to the very bitter end),
"K.O. gehen" (be knocked out -- literally and figuratively)
"mit harten Bandagen kämpfen" (fight with hard bandages -- attack recklessly and ruthlessly)

A little insight into the German mindset: the English 'great minds think alike' is done a little differently in Germany, where we have 'zwei Idioten, ein Gedanke'... meaning 'two idiots, one thought' :)

I'd say "Die Beine in den Bauch stehen" should be translated as "standing the legs *into* the belly", rather than *in* the belly, that's one of the circumstances where german grammatical cases become important because they are used to differenciate between a location and a direction.

What's your take on the accelerated adoption of anglicisms and the seemingly inability of the German language to grow in terms of lexicon without resorting primarily to English? Native English speaker here but I work in Germany and the use of English seems almost obsessive and borderline pretentious (sorry, nice, challenge, budget, customer journey, feedback, startup, business model, cool, etc.). I understand English has had and will continue to have an unavoidable influence in all languages, but I'm also fluent in two other languages and they seem to have a better grip on their ability to create new words or combine/adapt existing words, following their respective phonology, semantics, etymology and syntax to express the same new concepts that English is communicating. Whenever I come across an anglicism I ask my girlfriend for the German analog and she says it doesn't exist, I then do a bit of research, find the word, ask again and then she says "I've never heard that word" or "yeah, but we don't use it" as if the ability to expand the meaning of native words was just impossible in German. I get the feeling that English is just being used to appear cool rather than to really communicate.

Selten so gelacht über die deutsche Sprache 😃 tolles Video!

In South Africa, we use both "holding thumbs" and "fingers crossed". It never occurred to me that they mean the same thing.

A catarrh : also catarrhal inflammation or catarrhus; from ancient Greek καταρρεῖν katarrhein)
The terms for "hangover" / " Kater " in german arose from a corruption of the word (after excessive alcohol consumption) and sore muscles (after intensive muscle exertion) .

You're right, we Germans can't live without idioms, it's part of the richness of language, German language uses many pictures in order to transport a special emotion or functionality. Besides idioms German language uses this pictures in building new words. (which also might be the explanation of the word "Handy" for a mobile telephone - it's just a thing, which is held by a Hand, so - need to be somewhat english-sounding as it was a fancy new technical thing - it became "Handy", ignoring the fact that "handy" in English was already existent...)

By the way: German lives, and there is a pretty new idiom: "Geschichte aus dem Paulanergarten" (or simply the word "Paulanergarten") for a story where we heavily object it's truth 😉

Very entertaining video - appreciation!!! Native Swedish speaker here - I remember that I was astonished by the German way to "press Thumbs" within their palms. We in Sweden have continued the habit of the Vestal Virgins in Rome who made their verdict clear by turning their thumbs upwards or downwards. So we wish people luck by turning a thumb up in appreciation of their effort and in the belief and hope someone will succeed, and we say "hold Thumbs" - jag håller tummarna (and you need not add the preposition up (upp).

I use "Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" quite often, so one could say, that this would be my favorite one.
Unfortunately - due to the massively rising prices - I tend to use "Preise wie in einer Apotheke" more and more. 😞

"Du hast deine Hausaufgaben in 2 Minuten fertiggemacht ? Du willst mich wohl auf den Arm nehmen!"
You've finished your homework within 2 minutes ? You're trying to put me on the arm. You're taking me for a fool.

Careful: Kirche (without s) = church ... but Kirsche (with s) = cherry. ;)
Also crossing your fingers (behind your back) is quiet common in Germany too. Children do this when they are lying / promising something they already plan not to do.

My favourite is very close to "Das ist eine Apotheke" and it refers to a pricy item. If you get offered such one you may ask "Gibt's da nicht auch was von Ratiopharm?" - "Is there an alternative from Ratiopharm?" (a German producer of generica). I use this old slogan of the brand on anything too expensive.

I use "'Tschuldigung, ich steh grad aufm Schlauch" (lit." Sorry I momentarily stand on the hose" surprisingly difficult to get the exact meaning of 'grad') whenever I know what I want to express, but I can't seem to recall the words which would describe that. Usually when I speak with someone whose english "isn't the yellow from the egg" ;) and my brain decides to give me the english word and block any attempts to find the german equivalent. Almost as if my brain was like "Why bother searching? You already got a word from me to express this". Oh or when someone names a movie or song and I am almost sure that I have heard of it, but no related memories come to mind. I always pictured this idiom as if there were a hose between the database part of your brain and the actively thinking mind, thus standing on it restricts the flow of that connection.
I do wonder though, since German was my first language, do you sometimes get provided the German word in an English speaking context and you have to maneuver around your mind a bit to 'find' the English term?

A bit of an explanation to the hangover idiom. "Einen Kater haben" is actually the quite recent version of the idiom. If you read literature from the first half of the 20th century or older, you will rather find the expression "unter Katzenjammer leiden", so "to suffer from cat's wailing", which I think illustrates the point how you feel like, when you have a hangover quite neatly. You feel exactly, like a wailing cat sounds. Absolutely miserable. And just as cats often don't have a specific reason to sound so miserable, the misery from a hangover is entirely self-imposed, and thus unreasonable.

very nice. when i heard "Kraut und Rüben" i had one similar idiom in my mind. "hier sieht´s aus wie bei Hempels hinter´m Sofa" ;) that may be kinda local here in Berlin but every german should know that. i don´t know why the family name is Hempel but that´s how i learned it in my childhood.

About "crossing fingers"
Well I grew up in Austria with the term "Hexenkreuz" literally translated "Witch Cross" for the "crossed fingers" used in order to jinx "a vow" you took in order to make it unvalid.
So here in "Catholic Austria" the crossed fingers are seen as a pagan thing with no christian background.
And in my understanding in english speaking countries you basically "jinx" bad luck away by crossing the fingers.
So for me in context with my upbringing crossing fingers like we do here and how it´s done there was always basically "the exact same jinx" just used for different purposes,
The term "Kater" used in the phrase "einen Kater haben" is just a done simplification in common speech of the medical term "Katarrh"/"catarrh" in order to refer to "a physical bad condition/for feeling bad" ....and has actually nothing to do with the German term "Kater" for "Tom cat/male cat" at all.
Out of topic but about the term "hose" or in German "Hose" respectively..
It is always fascinating me how terms with basically the same origin are then used differently in related languages..in German "Hose" means "trousers/pants" = the thing where you put the legs into 2 "hoses" of cloth.
May I introduce you into an Viennese Idiom..."Der hat sich ins Pendel geschmissen"...just picture it.
Unfortunately I don´t see a way to translate that literally into English other than to paraphrase it into "Someone took the effort to become a pendelum" but it isn´t exact what the phrase actually says.
It is the morbid funny Viennese way to express that someone hung himself....I simply love that very dry and sarcastic image that phrase is literally picturing.

The funny thing with colloquial drinking in Germany is its zoological features: in order to get einen Kater you‘ve got to have einen Affen before…😂😅
„Einen Affen haben“ is an idiomatic term to express „being drunk“
Maybe interesting especially for Brits would be the expression to describe a drunken person with „Der hat einen im Tee.“ , literally translated with „He‘s gotten one in his tea.“ (meaning of course one shot of liquor…)

I want to add "wenn der Bauer nicht schwimmen kann, liegt's an der Badehose" (If the farmer can't swim it's because of the swimming shorts) for someone who constantly blames others or the circumstances if something goes wrong, but never admits it to be his fault.

'einen Kater haben' originates from academic students of the 19th century in Germany. At that age they were somewhat on their own and could exploit their new freedoms as they were allowed to drink alcohol for the first time. Kind of similar as in the US of today.
The original expression was 'einen Katarrh haben' which was said to the professor as an excuse when a student had a hangover during the lecture. 😉😂 Kater is a simplified and mutilated version of Katarrh..... and in Englisch catarrh is a medical expression as well. 😉
I have never heard "Das ist eine Apotheke!" but a variation of it: "Die haben Apothekerpreise" meaning a shop is overpriced or very expensive.

die kirche im dorf lassen = den ball flach halten (to keep the flight of the ball flat, is what I grew up with. and I actually grew up around Frankfurt am Main. and in the local dialect of Frankfurt it's "halle ma n ball flach") = not get carried away, not make a fuss, not exagerate, not act rashly and impulsively, not make a big scene.

"Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof" oder "Das ist ein böhmisches Dorf für mich" is similar to "Auf dem Schlauch stehen" - but also a little different

Kater haben the everyday slang version of katarrh - not feeling very well, but ill. Came in use through fraternities / Burschenschaften using it with an 😉.
Über den Tisch ziehen same like jemanden über das Ohr hauen.

always nice to watch your vids its a strange mix between fun and relaxation
greetings from bavaria

A small input from Poland: Die Leute there also "hold their thumbs", never "cross fingers". And there is the word "kac" in Polish, a shortened and localized version of Katzenjammer. Maybe Katzenjammer was before Kater? Cheers :)

"Über seinen Schatten springen" wird aber auch benutzt um zu sagen, dass man zu viel von jemandem verlangt. Dann meint man, dass derjenige das ja nicht können kann, da er ja nicht über seinen Schatten springen könne.

Just a small thing: "über deinen Schatten springen" (accusative case). In colloquial German, people tend to drop the unstressed e, so you likely hear something like "dein'n" which sounds like "dein" with a long n.

One of my fav. Austrian idioms is "Hau di über'd Heisa" (Hau dich über die Häuser) = throw yourself over the houses, meaning "get the f*** outta here" :D

I'm from NRW in West Germany and have never heard "Das ist eine Apotheke" as an idiom in any of the 36 years of my life. It has to be a regional thing.

The tom cat in "Ich habe einen Kater" apparently originates in the word "cattarh" used in a humorous sense by students in the 19thC. (Wikipedia)

Wir sagen in der Regel nicht "Das ist eine Apotheke", sondern "das sind Apothekenpreise"! Danke für die schönen großen Untertitel!

My favourite English one is "whatever floats your boat".
Favourite Bavarian/German: "In da Not frisst da Deife Floang."/ "In der Not frisst der Teufel Fliegen." (In times of need, the devil eats flies)
And Family it is "Frieren tuen nur die Armen und die Dummen." (Feeling cold/freezing is just for the poor or the stupid.)

1:54 „die Daumen drücken“ is not exactly the same as „crossing fingers“ it doesn’t have the negative use of „negating a promise“ it just means to wish yourself or someone luck.

The "Kater" in "einen Kater haben" oder auch in "Muskelkater" comes from the word "Katarrh", which is a state of malady.
And "Die Beine in den Bauch stehen": When I was at the bus stop the other day, I overheard a school kid (~7yo) tell his friend "Wir stehen uns hier schon so lange die Beine in den Bauch, sie kommen mir fast schon zu den Schultern wieder raus!"

To make it clear „jemanden über den Tisch ziehen“ (pull sb over the table) has nothing to do with fighting. It means betraying sb by tricking him into a bad deal or a bad trading decision.

And my favorite idiom is an extension of "Über den Tisch ziehen", making it an evil advice for human resource management:
"Die Kunst der Personalführung liegt darin, den Angestellten zu überzeugen, dass er die Reibungshitze beim übern Tisch ziehen als Nestwärme wahrnimmt"
"The art of managing personelle is to convince your employees that the friction heat he feels being drawn across the a table is acutally the warmth of a nest"

I am german + he explain very well. This is funny to here for me and to learn english Idioms instead of our.🤠

Well, the idiom "über den Tisch ziehen"; "to pull over the table" means in the normal linguistic usage that one was cheated with a purchase or a purchase negotiation.

Love your explanations. 🙂

" Hast du schon Pferde vor einer Apotheke kotzen sehen ?" = Das ist unmöglich .
" Verstehe nur Bahnhof ." = Hab überhaupt nichts verstanden .
" Den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen ." = Exakt

Hi, I Iike your video. Idioms are a great thing but difficult to explain because they are highly context dependent, how and when to use them.
"Die Beine in den Bauch stehen" is more like "My feet are killing me" or "It takes ages".
"Kraut und Rüben" is less the description of a chaotic thing/situation it can by more translated as "This is a very crude solution" or that something is very unclean done. It has always a connection to a work that has to be done, or somebody who tells about such a situation.
"Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" is always related to somebody who overaccomplish rules or is very strict about a rule. You would translate it to "Don't be so harsh" or "This is a little to much".
"Don't exaggerate" or "Calm down" does not really hit it. It is more an expression if you feel that following the rules strictly is inappropriate in a particular situation. You could also say:
"Komm jetzt lass mal gut sein - jetzt lass mal die Kirche im Dorf.", or "Der soll sich nicht so aufregen - Der soll mal die Kirche im Dorf lassen"
There is also an other idiom which means almost the same "Jetzt sei mal nicht päpstlicher als der Papst" - rougly translated: Don't be more popish than the pope. It has the same meaning as "Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" but on people who over moralize things.
The other idioms are good translated and explained.

I, as a German have never heard of the idiom with the Apotheke. I guess it must be a regional thing. But all the others are correct. Trank you, it was fun.

I often say ‚Ich mach drei Kreuze wenn ich … überstanden/ geschafft habe.‘
For example: Ich mach drei Kreuze wenn ich die Prüfungen (in der Schule) bestanden habe.
It’s kind of to show how hard or bothersome a task is and how happy I’m gonna be when it’s over.
Translation: I will do three Krosses when … is over.

I don’t think I have ever heard „das Gelbe vom Ei“ used in the positive. 🤔 („Mein neues Auto ist das Gelbe vom Ei“) I‘ve only ever heard and used it in the negative: „NICHT das Gelbe vom Ei“. I‘d be curious to hear if that’s just me and I‘ve been missing out on that other option. (I’m a native speaker of German.) And, just remembered, there’s a postcard (from a range of postcards with German phrases and idioms literally translated into English) saying: „My English is not the yellow of the egg.“

It seems that "einen Kater haben" comes from the word Katarrh and might be used as a joke by medical students to describe their headache after excessive drinking, but also indicating by the wrong pronunciation that this is not the ordinary medical description, just a bit different. Also Muskelkater.

I like an oldfashioned one : da wird ja der Hund in der Pfanne verrückt !
The dog in the pan is getting mad about that ...
It means that you experience something very absurd and amazing and you express disliking it in a humorous manner.
I would like to know how to express this one in English.
As far as I know the original was used by soldiers first. One can imagine situations they took the picture from.

For me as a northern german, "Das ist eine Apotheke" is totally unknown. What I hear and use however is "Apothekerpreise" (=pharmacists prices).

perfect english translations of the idioms with some quite funny aspects (for a german guy) ;-)

Speaking of shops, if you don't like a place you can call it a „Saftladen“, meaning a „Juice Store“. I guess a store that only sells juice is kind of useless most of the time.

During my childhood decades ago I sometimes heard the expression "Hier sieht's ja aus wie bei Hempels hinterm Sofa!", meaning that a place is a mess. Now I don't hear it anymore. Does anyone else remember/know it?