/ɪns ˈfɛtnɛp͡fçən ˈtʁeːtn̩/ lit. ‘step into the little pot of grease’
German idiom, everyday. To say or do something tactless that embarrasses you or upsets someone.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Ins Fettnäpfchen treten
?
Everyday German, used by everyone from talk-show hosts to etiquette guides. It takes “sein” in the perfect: “ich bin ins Fettnäpfchen getreten”. Germans also like the ironic “er lässt kein Fettnäpfchen aus” for someone who never misses a chance to blunder.
Also said in den Fettnapf treten
Ins Fettnäpfchen treten
in real sentences
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Er ist kräftig ins Fettnäpfchen getreten.
He really put his foot in it.
Tatoeba, sentence by sigfrido, translation by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Bist du auch schon einmal ins Fettnäpfchen getreten?
Have you ever put your foot in it too?
Tatoeba, sentence by Esperantostern, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Ins Fettnäpfchen treten
come from?
German Wikipedia says the phrase is on record since the 19th century. A Fettnäpfchen really existed: German Wiktionary describes a small pot of grease kept by the door or the stove for greasing boots. The likely story (Wikipedia cites Hessky and Ettinger’s idiom book) is that a visitor who stepped in it left greasy marks on the floor and annoyed the woman of the house. A second version swaps the boot grease for a bowl catching fat dripping from hams hung up to smoke, which German Wiktionary flags as unsourced.
Mistakes learners make with Ins Fettnäpfchen treten
Using “haben” in the past: “ich habe ins Fettnäpfchen getreten” is wrong. Movement into something takes “sein”: “ich bin ins Fettnäpfchen getreten”.
Other German idioms like Ins Fettnäpfchen treten
Spot a mistake in Ins Fettnäpfchen treten
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.