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I was wondering about the options for saying

That sounds good to me

or just

Sounds good

in German.

I initially thought something along the lines of "Das klingt mir gut" oder "Das hört mir gut", but I am unsure if either of these make good sense in German.

I found "Klingt gut" and "Das hört sich gut an" on dict.cc. Are there any other possibilities?

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  • It also depends on what you mean by 'sounds good'. If you mean 'seems reasonable' or 'seems acceptable' it would have to be worded differently. You have to be careful about what is intended, and not just translate the words. – Ornello Jan 6 '15 at 21:43
14

Assuming you meant "sounds good" as the affirmative to someone's questions, both "Klingt gut" and "Das hört sich gut an" are perfectly fine.

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  • When responding to emails in English, I often say "That sounds good," even though I'm not technically hearing anything, and that's normal. Would it be just as normal to respond to an email with "Klingt gut"? – Phil Jul 12 '17 at 14:25
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Many phrases of subjective mood or sensation use a dative construction with "mir" in German whereas English uses different idioms:

Mir geht's gut. - I'm fine.

Mir gefällt das. - I like that.

Mir scheint... - It seems to me...

Er sieht mir aus wie... - To me, he looks like...

Das klingt mir nach... - To me, that sounds like...

Furthermore, you can say something along the lines:

Das klingt mir nach einem schönen Lied. - That sounds like a nice song to me.

Das klingt mir zu harsch. - That sounds too harsh to me.

Nonetheless, in your case no dative with "mir" is used. With a pure adjective, without "zu" (too) and without the noun the "that" is sounding like, there is no "mir":

Ich finde, das klingt gut./Das klingt gut! - That sounds good (to me).

Ich finde, das hört sich gut an. /Das hört sich gut an! - That sounds good (to me).

Instead of "sich anhören" and "klingen" in some parts of the German speaking world "tönen" is used; but as far as I know, no "mir" is used in a sentence like "Das tönt gut.", either.

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1

As a reaction to a suggestion I would say:

  • Einverstanden
  • Guter Vorschlag
  • Okay, das machen wir
  • ...
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0

I'm German and I use the phrase "klingt gut für mich" or in short "klingt gut" in daily spoken language. Grammatically right, it would be written as "Für mich klingt das gut." or "Für mich hört sich das gut an."

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  • I'm German, too, and I'd never combine "klingen" with "für"... – Robert Jan 6 '15 at 4:55
  • 1
    Perhaps a regional thing? :) I mostly just use "klingt gut" without saying "für mich". – Christian Mohr Jan 6 '15 at 19:58

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