February 22, 2024

[Stefanie Schantl, M.A.](https://blog.duolingo.com/author/stefanie/)

# 12 German idioms with surprising meanings

From the land of *Schadenfreude*: Here are 12 colorful idioms you’ll never forget!

Not only does German have some [uniquely expressive words](https://blog.duolingo.com/untranslatable-german-words/), but German idioms also fill everyday needs you didn’t even know you had!

Here are a few of the colorful ways German speakers talk about seemingly mundane situations:

## einen Korb bekommen

**Literal meaning:** “to get a basket”  
**Translation:** to be rejected  
Tracing back to a custom from the Middle Ages where an actual basket was involved, in today’s German you can—metaphorically—get a basket (einen Korb bekommen) 😭 or give one to somebody else (jemandem einen Korb geben). 😬

## nur Bahnhof verstehen  
**Literal meaning:** “to only understand train station”  
**Translation:** to not understand anything (like “it’s all Greek to me”)  
Saying ich verstehe nur Bahnhof (I understand only train station) means you don’t understand anything, like, at all. So, if you ever find yourself lost in a sea of German words, just pull out this idiom to throttle down the conversation speed.

## am Sankt-Nimmerleins-Tag  
**Literal meaning:** “on Saint Never-lein’s Day”  
**Translation:** never  
Got a date on St. Valentine’s Day? Mark February 14th! Seeing friends on St. Patrick’s Day? Party on March 17th! Postponing plans to Sankt-Nimmerleins-Tag? They’re now scheduled for… never. 📅🚫

## alles in Butter  
**Literal meaning:** “everything in butter”  
**Translation:** everything’s fine  
Well, alles in Butter? When saying that everything’s _in Butter_, German speakers mean to express that things are a-OK—much like food prepared with melt-in-the-mouth butter rather than less tasty alternatives.

## eine Schwalbe machen  
**Literal meaning:** “to do a swallow”  
**Translation:** to dive (in the context of soccer)  
Soccer players sometimes deliberately let themselves fall as a tactical move. Because the motion can be reminiscent of a slightly less graceful version of the bird _Schwalbe_ (swallow), it is called eine Schwalbe machen. ⚽🐦

## (keinen) Bock haben  
**Literal meaning:** “to have (no) billy goat” 🐐  
**Translation:** to (not) be interested in something  
While a _Bock_ can be both an animal (billy goat) or a piece of sports equipment (vaulting horse), the phrase ich habe Bock auf (I’m up for) something is a casual way to show you’re totally into it! The negated form ich habe keinen Bock (I’m not up for it) expresses that you can’t be bothered.

## ins Fettnäpfchen treten  
**Literal meaning:** “to step into the little bowl of fat”  
**Translation:** to put one’s foot into one’s mouth  
Legend has it that farmers kept a pot of fat for their boots near the front door. Now, imagine the awkwardness if someone mistakenly stepped into that bowl when entering the house… 🫠 That image may explain why the phrase ins Fettnäpfchen treten is used to describe embarrassing social slip-ups.

## jemandem ein X für ein U vormachen  
**Literal meaning:** “to fool somebody into thinking a U is an X”  
**Translation:** to deceive somebody  
In Ancient Rome, V represented “five” and X meant “ten”. With just two extra lines, someone could easily turn a V into an X, doubling its value— a sneaky trick on things like unpaid bills. The Latin letter “V” eventually gave us today’s “U”, and that’s where the expression jemandem ein X für ein U vormachen comes from.

## lügen wie gedruckt  
**Literal meaning:** “to lie like printed”  
**Translation:** to lie through one’s teeth  
The origin of the saying lügen wie gedruckt isn’t entirely clear, with some attempts to explain it possibly being lies themselves. Regardless, when someone is lying _wie gedruckt_, they are telling anything but the truth. 🤥

## auf dem Schlauch stehen  
**Literal meaning:** “to stand on the hose”  
**Translation:** to not get it, to be clueless  
The phrase auf dem Schlauch stehen describes that moment when your brain just isn’t braining. It’s like a garden hose that stops working when somebody steps on it—things simply aren’t flowing.

## einen Kater haben  
**Literal meaning:** “to have a tomcat”  
**Translation:** to have a hangover  
Unfortunately, einen Kater haben isn’t about a furry friend. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it originated from German university students and has also given us the adjective verkatert (hungover).

## nicht das Gelbe vom Ei sein  
**Literal meaning:** “to not be the yellow of the egg”  
**Translation:** to not be the best option, to not be perfect  
When you eat an egg, the yolk is the most delicious part, right? So, if something is nicht das Gelbe vom Ei, then it just isn’t the best. 🤷

## Your German will soon be _in butter_!  
Knowing how to use words figuratively will help you express yourself in German—and help you make sense of the surprising uses you’ll hear from German speakers. It’s like zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen (hitting two flies with one swatter)!