German Sayings in English Part 2

German Sayings and the English Equivalent

Below is a table of German sayings translated into English. We have included the literal translation of the saying into English so you can truly understand what is being said. We hope you enjoy these, please add your own in the comments section below. You can also check out our first Part 🙂

Saying Literal Translation Meaning
Wenn der Kuchen spricht hat der Krümel ruhig zu sein. The crumble has to be quiet when the cake is talking. When grown ups are talking, children should listen/be quiet
sich den Mund fusselig reden to talk your mouth fluffy Talk until your blue in the face
Hummeln im Hintern haben to have bumble-bees in one’s bottom to have ants in your pants
Null acht fünfzehn zero eight fifteen nothing special
jemanden durch den Kakao ziehen to pull someone through the cocoa to pull someone’s leg
jemanden läuft ne Laus über die Leber a louse is walking over someone’s liver to get out of bed on the wrong side
die Kurve kratzen to scratch the curve to leg it/run away
auf die Palme bringen you bring me on the palm you drive me crazy
da lachen ja die Hühner the chickens are laughing You must be joking/are you having a laugh
auch ein blindes Huhn findet mal ein Korn a blind chicken will find a corn eventually Even a broken clock is right twice a day/dumb luck
Du gehst mir auf den Keks! You go on my cookie! You get on my nerves!
in den Arsch kriechen to creep in someone’s ass to kiss someones ass
Herz in die Hose rutschen the heart slides into the trousers my heart sank
auf dem Schlauch stehen to stand on the hose to be slow to pick things up
Du bist allererste Sahne. You are the very first cream. You are the cream of the crop
das kommt mir nicht in die Tüte! that doesnt go in my bag! it’s not my bag/it’s not my kind of thing
am Ende seines Lateins sein I’m at the end of my Latin To run out of options
auf Nummer sicher gehen to go on number safe to play it safe/to be on the safe side
ein Hühnchen rupfen to pluck a chicken to have an axe to grind/to have a bone to pick
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