/aʁm viː ˌaɪ̯nə ˈkɪʁçn̩ˌmaʊ̯s zaɪ̯n/ lit. ‘to be as poor as a church mouse’
German idiom, colloquial. To have no money at all.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Arm wie eine Kirchenmaus sein
?
Colloquial and a bit jokey, said about yourself at the end of the month or about a struggling student: “Ich bin arm wie eine Kirchenmaus.” It also works in the past: “Er war arm wie eine Kirchenmaus.”
Also said so arm wie eine Kirchenmaus sein
Arm wie eine Kirchenmaus sein
in real sentences
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Er ist arm wie eine Kirchenmaus.
He’s as poor as a church mouse.
Tatoeba, sentence by Esperantostern, translation by Dejo, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Tom war so arm wie eine Kirchenmaus.
Tom was as poor as a church mouse.
Tatoeba, sentence by raggione, translation by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Arm wie eine Kirchenmaus sein
come from?
German Wiktionary, citing the Duden idiom dictionary, explains that a church has no food stores, so the mice living there go hungry. English has the same “poor as a church mouse”, and Wiktionary’s examples show it in older German translations of Dostoevsky and Washington Irving.
Mistakes learners make with Arm wie eine Kirchenmaus sein
Using plain “Maus”: it has to be a “Kirchenmaus”, because a mouse in a house has a pantry to raid, while one in a church has nothing.
Other German idioms like Arm wie eine Kirchenmaus sein
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