/man zɔl deːn ˈtaːk nɪçt foːɐ̯ deːm ˈaːbn̩t ˈloːbm̩/ lit. ‘don’t praise the day before the evening’
German idiom, everyday. Don’t count on a good result before it has actually happened.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
?
An everyday proverb that anyone can use, from grandparents to newspaper editors. You say it while things still look good, as a warning to someone (or yourself) who’s already celebrating. It bends to fit the speaker: “wir wollen den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben” (let’s not praise the day before the evening).
Also said Du sollst den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
in real sentences
-
Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben.
Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.
Tatoeba, sentence by al_ex_an_der, translation by blay_paul, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
Wir wollen den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben.
Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.
Tatoeba, sentence by Esperantostern, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
come from?
German Wiktionary calls it an adaptation of a Bible verse, Proverbs 27:1, which warns against boasting about tomorrow because you don’t know what the day will bring. It quotes a version from Friedrich von Hagedorn’s fables printed in 1769 (“Man muß den schönsten Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben”) and the modern wording in a Palatinate Sunday paper from 1867. Whether the Bible verse really is the source or just a close cousin, the sources don’t say.
Mistakes learners make with Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
Using it after things have gone wrong. It’s a warning for the moment when everything still looks fine; once the plan has failed, the proverb is too late.
Other German idioms like Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
Spot a mistake in Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.