Each German idiom below comes with what its words literally say, what it means and how other languages put the same idea. To see every language at once, open the side-by-side page for money and luck.
-
lit. ‘for an apple and an egg’
For a very small amount of money.
Elsewhere
- EN For peanuts
- FR Pour des cacahuètes
- ES Por cuatro perras
- IT Per un tozzo di pane
- JA 雀の涙
-
lit. ‘to cost a pole of money’
To cost a huge amount of money.
Elsewhere
-
lit. ‘buy the cat in the sack’
To buy or agree to something without checking it first.
Elsewhere
-
lit. ‘have pig’
To be lucky, often by pure chance.
Elsewhere
- EN Hit the jackpot
- FR Avoir de la veine
- ES Tener potra
- IT Nascere con la camicia
- JA 棚からぼたもち
-
lit. ‘press your thumbs’
To hope that things turn out well.
Elsewhere
-
Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben
lit. ‘don’t praise the day before the evening’
Don't count on a good result before it has actually happened.
-
Wenn Ostern und Pfingsten auf einen Tag fallen
lit. ‘when Easter and Whitsun fall on the same day’
It will never happen.
Elsewhere
-
lit. ‘to have money like hay’
To have a lot of money.
Elsewhere
- EN Have money to burn
- FR Rouler sur l’or
- ES Estar forrado
- IT Nuotare nell’oro
- JA 懐が暖かい
-
lit. ‘to be as poor as a church mouse’
To have no money at all.
Elsewhere
-
lit. ‘to sit in the ink’
To be in trouble or a difficult situation.
Elsewhere
Phrases in bold with a red marker are written up. The rest don’t have their own page yet.