/ɡɛlt viː hɔɪ̯ ˈhaːbn̩/ lit. ‘to have money like hay’
German idiom, colloquial. To have a lot of money.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Geld wie Heu haben
?
Colloquial, often with a touch of envy or sarcasm: “Der hat Geld wie Heu.” A common comeback when someone expects you to pay is “Denkst du, ich hab Geld wie Heu?”
Geld wie Heu haben
in real sentences
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Er hat Geld wie Heu.
He’s got money to burn.
Tatoeba, sentence by xtofu80, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Denkst du, ich hab Geld wie Heu?
Do you think I’m made of money?
Tatoeba, sentence by Felixjp, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Geld wie Heu haben
come from?
The picture is a farmer’s barn after haymaking, with hay piled so high it seems to have no value. Wander’s 19th-century German proverb lexicon records “Er hat Geld wie Heu”, so it’s at least that old. German Wiktionary flags its origin as missing.
Mistakes learners make with Geld wie Heu haben
Using “Stroh” (straw) instead of “Heu” (hay): straw turns up in a different jibe, “Stroh im Kopf haben” (to have straw in your head, to be stupid).
Other German idioms like Geld wie Heu haben
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