56 German idioms, each filed under its main word, the way a dictionary would. Each one shows what it literally says and the English idiom for the same idea.
A
-
lit. ‘for an apple and an egg’
EN For peanuts
B
-
lit. ‘I only understand train station’
EN It’s all Greek to me
-
Da steppt der Bär
lit. ‘the bear is tap-dancing there’
There's a lively party or a lot going on somewhere.
-
Jemandem einen Bären aufbinden
lit. ‘tie a bear on someone’
EN Pull someone’s leg
-
lit. ‘that’s not my beer’
EN Not my circus, not my monkeys
-
lit. ‘it’s raining string’
EN It’s raining cats and dogs
-
lit. ‘talk around the hot porridge’
EN Beat around the bush
D
-
lit. ‘press your thumbs’
EN Keep your fingers crossed
E
-
lit. ‘like one egg to the other’
EN Like two peas in a pod
-
Eine Extrawurst verlangen
lit. ‘to ask for an extra sausage’
EN A prima donna
F
-
lit. ‘step into the little pot of grease’
EN Put your foot in it
-
Jemanden um den Finger wickeln
lit. ‘wrap someone around the finger’
EN Wrap someone around your little finger
-
Wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen
lit. ‘like a fish on dry land’
EN A fish out of water
-
Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen
lit. ‘two flies with one swatter’
EN Kill two birds with one stone
-
lit. ‘a frog in your throat’
EN A frog in your throat
-
Wo sich Fuchs und Hase gute Nacht sagen
lit. ‘where fox and hare say goodnight’
EN The middle of nowhere
G
-
lit. ‘goose skin’
EN Goosebumps
H
-
lit. ‘look for a hair in the soup’
EN Split hairs
-
lit. ‘lie on the lazy skin’
EN Not lift a finger
-
lit. ‘be in seventh heaven’
EN Over the moon
-
Vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen
lit. ‘to get from the little piece of wood onto the little stick’
EN Go off on a tangent
-
lit. ‘dead trousers’
EN Like watching paint dry
-
lit. ‘that’s where the dog is buried’
EN That’s the crux of it
I
-
lit. ‘the dot on the i’
EN The icing on the cake
K
-
lit. ‘to laugh oneself broken’
EN Laugh your head off
-
lit. ‘have a tomcat’
To feel ill the morning after drinking too much alcohol.
-
lit. ‘let the cat out of the bag’
EN Let the cat out of the bag
-
lit. ‘buy the cat in the sack’
EN Buy a pig in a poke
-
lit. ‘a cat’s jump’
EN A stone’s throw
-
lit. ‘go on someone’s biscuit’
EN Get on someone’s nerves
-
lit. ‘my collar is bursting’
EN Blow a fuse
L
-
lit. ‘tip out of your slippers’
EN Keel over
-
lit. ‘hand in the spoon’
EN Kick the bucket
-
lit. ‘lie like print’
EN Lie through your teeth
M
-
lit. ‘the morning hour has gold in its mouth’
EN The early bird catches the worm
-
Aus einer Mücke einen Elefanten machen
lit. ‘make an elephant out of a mosquito’
EN Make a mountain out of a molehill
-
lit. ‘sleep like a marmot’
EN Sleep like a log
N
-
lit. ‘sleep a night over it’
EN Sleep on it
-
lit. ‘have a full nose’
EN Had it up to here
O
-
lit. ‘a lot around your ears’
EN A lot on your plate
-
Wenn Ostern und Pfingsten auf einen Tag fallen
lit. ‘when Easter and Whitsun fall on the same day’
EN When pigs fly
S
-
lit. ‘the little cap of whipped cream’
EN The icing on the cake
-
lit. ‘it’s sow-cold’
EN Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
-
lit. ‘stand on the hose’
EN Rack your brains
-
lit. ‘have butterflies in your belly’
EN Butterflies in your stomach
-
Ich glaub, mein Schwein pfeift
lit. ‘I think my pig is whistling’
EN You could have knocked me down with a feather
-
lit. ‘have pig’
EN Hit the jackpot
-
lit. ‘to cost a pole of money’
EN Cost an arm and a leg
T
-
Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
lit. ‘don’t praise the day before the evening’
EN Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
-
Nicht alle Tassen im Schrank haben
lit. ‘not have all your cups in the cupboard’
EN To have a screw loose
-
Nicht über den Tellerrand hinausschauen
lit. ‘to not look beyond the rim of the plate’
Someone who only knows their own small world and thinks it's everything.
-
lit. ‘have tomatoes on your eyes’
To miss something that is obvious to everyone else.
-
Treppenwitz
lit. ‘staircase joke’
To think of the perfect reply only after the moment to say it has passed.
-
lit. ‘blow gloom’
EN Down in the dumps
V
-
lit. ‘move someone (somewhere else)’
EN Stand someone up
W
-
lit. ‘that’s sausage to me’
EN I couldn’t care less