What does “guter Mann” mean? How can one use it correctly?

Question

I've seen this form of addressing twice:

• Once I was watching a reality show and a policeman was trying to get a person to tell them their name and, exasperated after multiple tries, he said something like "Guter Mann, bitte sagen Sie mir Ihren Namen."
• Today I was listening to a colleague talking on the phone with a client and asking the client about the name of a colleague of theirs. And he used the phrase "und wie heißt der gute Mann?"

After I heard it the first time, it kind of stuck with me as a term on the pejorative side and I was surprised by hearing my colleague today.

My question is: What is this construct? How can I use it correctly or should I use it at all? Is there a feminine counterpart?

Answer 1

When used to address someone directly (vocative usage)

German has no distinct grammatical case for addresses, but other languages (like Latin) have a vocative case. In German and most other languages (like English too) we just use a name, role or title (which is a noun) and put an adjective in front of it. In written texts we add a comma, and then we add the first full sentence of our text:

Lieber Otto, wie geht es dir?
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, ich darf sie hier recht herzlich begrüßen.
Geliebte Hilde, oh, wie verzehre ich mich nach dir!
Gnädiger Herr, erlauben Sie mir bitte, Ihnen mein Anliegen vorzutragen.

The adjective used in such vocative phrases almost always honors the addressed person, but also a possessive pronoun is common:

Mein Freund, ich habe schon lange nichts mehr von dir gehört.

The phrase »guter Mann« perfectly fits into this scheme, but still it is different, but not because of the adjective, but because of the noun.

To address a male adult person you usually use the noun »Herr«. You can compare it with English "Mister". (In past centuries the noun "Herr" only was used to address superior male persons, for example aristocrats, like the English "Sir".)

But »Mann« normally refers to a biological entity, like the English word "man". So, there is no superior or aristocratic connotation in the word »Mann«, and this is, why you normally don't use it in a vocative phrase. But still you can, and among good friends, this even is ok (like "hi, man" in English), but only among good friends. But a police officer usually is not the best friend of a suspicious person.

And this adds this ironical and also pejorative touch to the phrase »guter Mann« when you use it in a vocative phrase. But this is alleviated by the revaluating adjective »gut«, so it is not really an insult.

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When used to talk about an absent person

In this case you also have a demonstrative pronoun in front of the adjective, so the phrase consists of three words (»der gute Mann«, »dieser gute Mann«). This is just a phrase that can be translated into »this/that guy«.

Other ways to say this in German are

der Typ, dieser Kerl

But they also are at least as pejorative as der gute Mann. If you don't want to have this disparaging connotation, you just could use a personal pronoun instead (»Wie heißt er?«), or the person's name or a more complex phrase which describes this person.

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Female versions

The female counterpart to »der Mann« is »die Frau«, so the female versions of your sentences are:

1. Gute Frau, bitte sagen Sie mir Ihren Namen.
2. Und wie heißt die gute Frau?

Answer 2

The meaning of "guter Mann" depends on the context - it may have a positive or a negative connotation.

If you talk about somebody and say "er ist ein guter Mann", then it has the obvious positive meaning.

In the phrase "guter Mann, bitte sagen Sie mir Ihren Namen" it is directly addressed to somebody and it has a negative connotation. There are several nuances, for example it may be sarcastic, disrespectful or condescending. At least it is not very polite.

In the phrase "und wie heißt der gute Mann?" it is in my opinion fairly neutral - just a silly idiom. If you do not know a person (as indicated by the question), you do not have any reason to be disrespectful.

Answer 3

This is usually used in a somewhat sarcastic way — mostly if you are annoyed — to address or refer to a male person. The policemen is sure to be annoyed because this man won't tell him his name. Your colleague might have been annoyed too, but it really depends on the context and situation.

Note that "guter Mann" would not be considered pejorative or offending most of the time, just impolite maybe.

"Gute Frau" can be used in the same manner – as with most expressions like these nowadays.

Answer 4

Great answers so far, one meaning I heard is as a compliment:

Guter Mann!

I think the english equivalent is:

Attaboy!

Answer 5

I would like to add the perspective of a native speaker with a few examples.

The key part of the confusing nature of "Guter Mann" is the adjective "gut". In general, obviously, "gut" is a positive adjective. However, when this positive adjective would not really be required in a sentence, choosing to use it anyway puts a spotlight on this particular part of the sentence. This might be used for only a mild comical effect, but it can also be used to clearly point out that you actually mean the exact opposite. In (admittedly rare) cases where using the adjective is not out of place, it can be unambiguously positive, but in other cases it can range from mildly ironic to downright hostile.

Fun fact: This general aspect of German is not limited to "Mann" or even "gut". For example:

Dann hatte ich noch ein bisschen von dem guten Salat aus der Kantine.

Then I had a little of that totally not terrible cantine salad.

There is practically no way to voice this phrase in my mind that can make the salad from the cantine sound actually good. However, I would like to note that the comments below showcase how other native speakers feel completely different about this. It is quite possible that the way these nuances are interpreted also depend strongly on your peer group, certainly tone of voice, and the context.

Another example where the connotation is more comical than sarcastic:

Wir können uns noch ein paar von den guten Backwerk-Brötchen gönnen.

We could treat ourselves to some of those world class rolls from Backwerk.
(a fast food bakery)

Now those rolls may actually be something that the speaker is craving, but it's a little comical because, well, those rolls are not really world class.

Now, back to the phrase "Guter Mann". I want to briefly explain that the phrase can actually be used without being negative at all, and that is in cases where the adjective "good" isn't out of place, but justified. For example, if I am being asked an opinion about someone:

Coworker: Was hälst du von Markus?
Me: Guter Mann.

Coworker: What do you think about Markus?
Me: Good man.

This would be a very solid compliment. The fact that the evaluation is an unfettered "gut" might even be considered highly positive.

I'd say that in most cases when the word is used with a negative connotation, there is already some tangible tension in the conversation, and I would usually expect this to happen in a conversation between people who are not close. For example, we are at the airport and an annoyed customer is being asked to check in a bag that they consider small enough to be hand luggage:

Steward: Sie müssen diesen Koffer leider am Schalter aufgeben.
Annoyed Customer: Guter Mann, der entspricht doch genau den Abmessungen hier.

Steward: I am afraid you'll have to check in this bag.
Annoyed Customer: Kind sir, if you have a look you'll see that it precisely matches the dimensions given here.

In this case, the customer is clearly annoyed and it is equally clear that "Guter Mann" is used in a derogatory way. However, the less tension there is in the given context, the less strong the irony of the phrase becomes. For example, you mentioned:

Und wie heißt der gute Mann?

This could be an almost neutral statement, possibly slightly ironic, with the "gut" added in there just for comical effect. For example, imagine you are with a friend who suddenly mentions that you will be joined by a third guy and proceeds to explain what a wonderful person that is, how much you will like him, and never mentions his name. Your friend is obviously anxious to make sure that his two buddies will get along. You might then ask the above question, and there'd be nothing particularly negative about the interaction. It's just a little comical that you now know what a fantastic person you are about to meet, but you haven't heard their name yet. You might even be relaxing the situation a bit if you say it with a friendly wink.

To summarize, the more out of place the adjective "gut" in "Guter Mann" seems to be considering the general tone of the conversation, the more likely it is to be irony. As in any case, irony can imply sarcasm.