/toˈmaːtn̩ aʊ̯f deːn ˈaʊ̯ɡn̩ ˈhaːbn̩/ lit. ‘have tomatoes on your eyes’
German idiom, colloquial. To miss something that is obvious to everyone else.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Tomaten auf den Augen haben
?
Colloquial and a little cheeky, so you say it to friends, siblings or a referee on TV, not to your boss. It usually comes as a question: “Hast du Tomaten auf den Augen?” (are you blind or what?). You can also use it about yourself after missing something: “Ich hatte wohl Tomaten auf den Augen.”
Tomaten auf den Augen haben
in real sentences
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Hast du Tomaten auf den Augen, oder was?
Have you got tomatoes on your eyes, or what?
Tatoeba, sentence by dispy, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Hat der Schiri Tomaten auf den Augen?
Is the ref blind?
Tatoeba, sentence by al_ex_an_der, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Tomaten auf den Augen haben
come from?
The Duden dictionary of idioms, as cited by German Wiktionary, says the phrase first described puffy, reddened eyes, so it meant that someone looked half asleep. From looking sleepy it moved to not noticing things. No earliest recorded date is given in the sources checked, and the idea that it’s about tomatoes thrown at bad actors is a guess with nothing behind it.
Mistakes learners make with Tomaten auf den Augen haben
Learners put the tomatoes in the eyes (“in den Augen”), but they sit on top of them: “auf den Augen”. It’s also always plural “Tomaten”; one tomato doesn’t do the job.
Other German idioms like Tomaten auf den Augen haben
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?
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