I have heard the following dialogue in the TV series Dark:
- Da, wo ich herkomme, haben du und ich die gleiche Vergangenheit.
- Du hast sie doch nicht mehr alle.
What does "sie nicht mehr alle haben" mean in this sentence? "to be crazy" ?
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3Does this answer your question? Woher kommt die Redewendung „Hast du sie noch alle“?– GlorfindelJul 1, 2020 at 20:38
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@Glorfindel: The referenced question is pure German however, while I consider this as mostly English.– guidot ♦Jul 2, 2020 at 11:59
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2 Answers
The word order is
sie nicht mehr alle haben.
And the meaning is, as you mention, to be crazy. It might be a short or related form of
nicht mehr alle Tassen im Schrank haben (and many more variations of similar structure).
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Thanks for the answer! FYI I have fixed the word order in the question. Jul 1, 2020 at 21:10
As you have already recognized, "Do you still have them all?" (Hast du sie noch alle?) is an idiom (are you crazy?) and therefore it does not really have any meaning. I would see "Do you still have all cups in the cupboard?" (Hast du noch alle Tassen im Schrank?) as origin, which would then refer to the cups, which in turn represent the thoughts of the person addressed, in the sense of "Do you still have all your thoughts together?" (Hast du deine Gedanken noch alle beisammen?)
answered Jul 1, 2020 at 16:33
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1There seem to be several expression this could be derived from: nicht alle Tassen im Schrank haben, nicht alle auf der Latte haben, nicht alle Nadeln auf der Tanne haben, but without context I think the actual meaning is somewhat ambiguous since it might actually mean "You don't have all of them," in a different scenario. Maybe the best translation in this case is simply "You've lost it!"– RDBuryJul 2, 2020 at 10:43