/aɪ̯n ˈkat͡sn̩ˌʃpʁʊŋ/ lit. ‘a cat’s jump’
German idiom, everyday. A very short distance away.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Ein Katzensprung
?
Everyday German, used for the station, a hotel or the next town over, usually with “nur”: “Bis zum Bahnhof ist es nur ein Katzensprung.” With “entfernt” it goes into the accusative: “Er wohnt nur einen Katzensprung von der Schule entfernt.” It’s a normal noun, so it can also stretch to bigger distances for effect, like a short flight between two countries.
Also said nur ein Katzensprung, einen Katzensprung entfernt
Ein Katzensprung
in real sentences
-
Bis zu ihrem Hotel ist es nur ein Katzensprung.
Her hotel is just a stone’s throw away.
Tatoeba, sentence by Esperantostern, translation by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
Er wohnt nur einen Katzensprung von der Schule entfernt.
He lives within a stone’s throw of the school.
Tatoeba, sentence by Vortarulo, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Ein Katzensprung
come from?
It’s a plain compound of Katze (cat) and Sprung (jump): a distance a cat could clear in one leap. German Wiktionary, citing Wolfgang Pfeifer’s etymological dictionary, says it has been recorded since the 17th century, and the Redensarten-Index says it goes back to the 16th century and was a fixture of proverb collections by the 17th.
Mistakes learners make with Ein Katzensprung
Mixing up the two cases. After “es ist” it’s “ein Katzensprung”, but with “entfernt” it’s “einen Katzensprung”: “nur einen Katzensprung entfernt”, not “nur ein Katzensprung entfernt”.
Other German idioms like Ein Katzensprung
Spot a mistake in Ein Katzensprung
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.