/diː ˈnaːzə fɔl ˈhaːbn̩/ lit. ‘have a full nose’
German idiom, colloquial. To have completely run out of patience with something.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Die Nase voll haben
?
Colloquial and very common, from the kitchen to the office. What you’re fed up with follows “von” or “davon”: “Ich habe die Nase voll von Tom”, “Ich habe die Nase voll davon”. Add “gestrichen” (filled to the brim) for extra weight, or swap in “die Schnauze voll haben” if you don’t mind sounding rude.
Also said die Nase gestrichen voll haben
Die Nase voll haben
in real sentences
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Ich habe die Nase voll!
I’m fed up with it!
Tatoeba, sentence by Bernie75, translation by wma, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Ich habe die Nase voll von Tom.
I’m fed up with Tom.
Tatoeba, sentence by RoyalBee, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Die Nase voll haben
come from?
Neither Wiktionary nor the Redensarten-Index explains why the nose is the part that’s full, so the origin seems to be unknown. The Redensarten-Index only notes, for the ruder “Schnauze” version, that using animal words like Maul and Schnauze for human mouths goes back to the 16th century and was a favorite habit of Martin Luther.
Mistakes learners make with Die Nase voll haben
Copying English “fed up with” and saying “die Nase voll mit”. German uses “von”: “Ich habe die Nase voll von der Arbeit”, not “mit der Arbeit”.
Other German idioms like Die Nase voll haben
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