How to say abstract "this"?

Question

I know dies is generally used to say this when referring to a noun. But what about if I want to say something like "This is ridiculous!" or "This is my story". Is there a German equivalent of expressing this? Or is it just one of those things where you have to play around with the language to say what you mean?

Answer 1

The most common translation is indeed "Es ist/Das ist":

This is awesome -> Das ist fantastisch

This is my story -> Das ist meine Geschichte

or the somewhat more generalized version with "Es ist", referencing a given state/situation:

This is ridiculous -> Es ist lächerlich

This is awkward -> Es ist (mir) peinlich

However, you can sometimes leave out 'this', e.g. in your given example. Facing something that results in a

"This is ridiculous!"

will often be expressed with

"Wie lächerlich!"

This can be seen as emphasis.

Answer 2

You could say "Dies ist lächerlich" but that sounds very unnatural and ridiculous.

You can say "Das ist lächerlich" or "Das ist meine Geschichte". This sounds perfectly natural.