German idioms you'll want to start using now | DW English

Do you "spider" or "talk around the hot porridge"? In German, you can. Meet the Germans host Kate Müser asks bilingual colleague Michael Knigge to explain some of the best idioms in the German language. (Watch for the outtakes at the end of the video.)

[SomethingStupide]

The expressions 'Du spinnst', 'Ich glaub ich spinne', 'Er ist ein totaler Spinner' and everything along these lines come from actual spinning on a spinning wheel. That was of course a very dull pastime and people would make up crazy stories and nonsense while spinning in order to entertain themselves and others in the room.

'Seinen Senf dazugeben' comes from gastronomy. Mustard used to be a rather expensive condiment and inn keepers would put a spoon of mustard on every dish they served unsolicitedly to drive up the price — much to the annoyance of their patrons, of course. So, someone who's 'adding their mustard to everything' unrequestedly shares a lot of their opinions and annoys their fellow human beings with that.

[TigruArdavi]

Actually "Brei" is *not* porridge, it rather means mush, mash or also something like pulp or slurry. In the context of food it's usually used as a word component for mushy foods. Hardly any German would think of porridge if you just say "Brei". If you just say "Brei" in German, most people would probably think of mushy baby food. Otherwise you would specify, e.g. Haferbrei = porridge (Hafer = oats), Kartoffelbrei = mashed potatoes (Kartoffel = potato). We also say Babybrei which, notably, is mush *not* made _from_ babies, but _for_ babies. 😄 Anyway, the idiom would thus rather litterally translate as *to talk around the hot mush.*

We also have the word "Mus" in German (pronounced like _moose_ ), which is related to the English _mush, _ but it's not necessarily interchangeable with "Brei". While most people (I reckon) would rather say Apfelmus (Apfel = apple), you could also say Apfelbrei (maybe regionally different what's preferred), but no one ever would say Kartoffelmus, it's always Kartoffelbrei (unless you use the word component of French origin saying Kartoffelpüree - and as the potato nation, if you just say "Püree" everyone would surely think of Kartoffelpüree. But in the case of "Brei" or "Mus", you have to specify).

[tiefkluehlfeuer]

The spider is calld "Spinne" because it spins its thread.
So a good translation of "Du spinnst!" would rather be "You're spinning!".

[tarregaclassical]

I though spinnen meant to spin, so it really translates to, 'you're spinning', not you're spider XD

[lillys.]

You go me on the cookie....

Now we have the salad!

You are on the wooden way.

[AhouraSh]

the production value is off the charts :)))

[Jose-wfpo]

Ich bin lernen deutch und es ist schwer. Aber miene favorit redewendung es "ich glaube mein schwein pfeift" 🤣😂

[Lia-ufir]

the verb "spinnen" actually means "to spin" and comes from Proto-Germanic "*spinnaną" which comes from Proto-Indo-European " *(s)penǝ-" (These words with a * are actually reconstructed.) But the two words seem to be related as a spider spins her web: "Sie spinnt ihr Netz."

[uwelohr]

There is a nice card game dealing with this very funny subject: playing "Now goes me a light up" you find out about english idioms, their literal translation and the german equivalent...it was very funny that we playes it the first time having a teacher teaching english at a german school...she was in last place in the end

[aufmischa]

Sie sagt Michael und nicht meikäl 😂 sehr gut!

[juancarlosmorenobuitrago]

With these videos "Ich kenne zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe", because I can study English add the same time I can learn German

[gloryikuku]

I dont know any German idiom aside from the ones you shated. Thanks for sharing

[HalfEye]

I think the expression "Ich glaube, ich spinne" translates more to "I think I'm spinning" like "I think I spider".
The verb "spinnen" surely comes from the spider. But because it is used to describe to the spinning to make wool like spiders do.

[jacquescousteau]

"Da bist du auf dem Holzweg", "Die Jungs sind auf Draht",

[tomschnadelbach]

I have a friend who was brought up in Canada with german parents and when he visited relatives in Germany said "Ich bin glucklick, in diesem Freudenhaus zu sein".

Literally, I am happy to be in this house of joy, but germans call a bordello a house of joy. His parents were not in the habit of talking about bordellos in his presence and he had never learned the word.

[mahmoudshiha]

You guys are awesome! I love your videos! :D

[nithinjacob]

Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof... Another idiom I think

[the_tabulator]

"I think I spider" is just a word game, a joke, which uses the similarity of the noun "Die Spinne", which indeed is the spider and the verb "ich spinne", which means I am spinning (a yarn or sth), I am cocooning.

In a metaphorical sense the German verb "spinnen" also means "to be on the blink".

Putting these two meanings together we in Germany say literally and in English and as a joke "I think I spider".

[huttenbar]

What about „you are heavy on wire“ which means “you are a clever one “ . In german language “du bist schwer auf Draht “
🤣🤣🤣🤣

[hja]

Du spinnst...not you Spider ... you are spinning is correct.

..correct translation :you are crazy.