You probably have heard the phrase, “if you want to learn the German language, you have to think like a German”.

In other words, this means you need to understand a phrase beyond its literal meaning. For example, in English, they say “I’m running out of gas”, but there is nobody running out of nowhere.

It just means the car doesn’t have much gas, that’s all. These are idioms and Germany has plenty of them. Idioms are just expressions with a figurative meaning.

In a way, they reveal the social and cultural background of a country. An English idiom may relate to an idiom in German, but they literally can be way different. For example, the English idiom “piece of cake” refers to something that we did with ease and joy. In German, it is “Das schaffe ich mit links”, which in English literally means “I could do that with my left hand only”.

So, learning idioms will definitely give you a creative sense of expressing your thoughts. Here are some of the German idioms and their meaning in English

Da steppt der Bär (Literally: The bear dances there) – It will be a good party Tomaten auf den Augen haben (Literally: to have tomatoes on one’s eyes) – to be unaware of what is going around you

Himmel und Hölle in Bewegung setzen (Literally: Put heaven and hell in motion) – to move heaven and earth

Eine Extrawurst verlangen (Literally: to ask for an extra sausage) – ask for special treatment

Da kannst du Gift drauf nehmen (Literally: You can take poison on that) – you can bet on it

den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen (Literally: to hit the nail on the head) – you hit it right

seinen Senf dazugeben (Literally: to add their mustard) – to put two cents in

klar wie Kloßbrühe (Literally: clear as soup) – clear as crystal

Schwein haben (Literally: to have a pig) – to be lucky