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How do you say "He was like I dunno" in German colloquially and formally? Can I use wie or also?

Did you tell him that you're in love with him? Yes, I did and he was like I don't know.

Hast du ihn gefragt, ob er in dich verliebt ist?

Ja, er war wie/also ich weiß nicht.

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    I see that the question initially was formatted as ' he was like i dunno' . Please notice that this ' with a space thereafter is causing trouble in most of your questions. Kindly write what you want to quote "like this".
    – c.p.
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 21:59
  • This is about the like, isn’t it? I thought it would be about the I dunno part … ^^'
    – Jan
    Commented Oct 17, 2016 at 23:21
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    Please control your punctation. There are different interpretations of your question. He was like: "I dont know"* or He was like - I dont know.* Is the I don't know in the voice of the third person or the second?
    – user unknown
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 3:01

2 Answers 2

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Ich würde schreiben:

Er war wie, also, ich weiß nicht.

This implies that the speaker wants to say something, but mid-sentence, he's unsure about what to say.

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    Just to make this sure: This definitly is colloquial.
    – alk
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 10:38
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    Ist Dir die englische Wendung „he was like“, die Du hier zu übersetzen versuchst, geläufig?
    – Carsten S
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 13:36
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    Ich glaube schon, aber jetzt bin ich mir nicht mehr so sicher... Ich denke, es bedeutet in etwa "Es war seine Art...", "Er war nun einmal so.".
    – PMF
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 14:09
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    "He was like" ist eine umgangssprachliche Art, wörtliche Rede einzuleiten. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like#As_a_colloquial_quotative Ich bin mir aber nicht sicher, ob das hier gemeint ist.
    – Carsten S
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 16:19
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    Oh, diese Bedeutung war mir unbekannt. Zum Verständnis wäre es gut, wenn die Satzzeichen in der Frage korrekt platziert würden.
    – PMF
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 16:22
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The closest equivalent to the English direct speech marker "like" is definitely "so".

Ich so, "sind wir zusammen?", und er so, "weiß nich'"

This is how it's done on the school yard all day long.

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