52
votes
Accepted
What's »Aldää« in »Ey jo, was geht, Aldää?«
Tofros answer is not wrong, but imho there is a different angle to it.
First of all "Aldää" is phonetic spelling for "Alter". This is German slang. It used to be teenage slang but by now it's pretty ...
- 626
40
votes
Accepted
What is the appropriate German phrase for letting you pass crowded areas?
Most people just say
Entschuldigung
which just means "excuse me" or "sorry". Sometimes you hear just the colloquial shortened version
Tschuldign
which sometimes gets condensed to even more ...
- 122k
40
votes
What is the equivalent of "if you say so" in German?
Short answer:
Wenn du meinst.
or
Wie du meinst.
- 14.2k
35
votes
What is the German equivalent of a rhethorical “What can I do?”?
I think there is no ideal translation in German, but some that come close:
Da kann man nichts machen.
or
Da bin ich machtlos.
would be fitting,
So ist das Leben. (That's life)
would work ...
- 2,323
34
votes
Accepted
Is German on social media very distinct from standard German?
I grew up near Graz, in the south-east of Austria. The first language that I learned when I was a little child was the local dialect. This dialect has no genitive case, dative and accusative case are ...
- 122k
33
votes
What is the most ‘understandable’ way to order sparkling water in German?
In Germany, Mineralwasser typically refers to carbonated sparkling water. Many people, including me, who were raised in Eastern Germany, would call all carbonated sparkling waters Selters, even though ...
- 22.5k
31
votes
Accepted
Is the word “Schwein” necessarily an insult?
It depends on the context.
If you call your neighbor, an officer, or someone else in the street a Schwein, it's an insult.
If a parent tells their child he or she is a Schwein, it usually means they ...
- 9,114
31
votes
Accepted
What is the German equivalent of a rhethorical “What can I do?”?
You could say something like
(Aber) was kann/soll man/ich machen/tun?
See e.g. https://context.reverso.net/%C3%BCbersetzung/deutsch-englisch/Was+soll+man+machen
- 1,314
30
votes
Accepted
How do native German speakers usually express skepticism (using even) about a premise?
It's just the same as in English language. Most of the time a rethorical question is asked like in your examples.
Even would be translated simply as auch [wenn] or (with a bit stronger emphasis) ...
- 8,512
30
votes
Accepted
How does "zuerst glühen wir vor" translate to "first, we'll have predrinks"?
"Vorglühen" literally means "pre-glow" or "pre-ignite". The term describes the pre-heating phase when cold-starting old diesel engines.
In your context it's a slang term ...
- 1,021
27
votes
Accepted
What would be the way to say "just saying" in German? (Not the literal translation)
I would translate it as
(Nur) Ums mal zu erwähnen. / Ums mal erwähnt zu haben.
or
Wills nur mal gesagt haben.
or
Falls ihrs noch nicht wusstet. / Nur damit ihrs wisst.
But to be honest I ...
- 14.2k
26
votes
Accepted
When speaking, how do you change your mind mid-sentence?
You can choose one of the following. I'd say that "wobei" is the more common one and actually expresses the change of mind, but the other formulation ("oh wait!") is also in use.
...
- 18.3k
26
votes
What is the German equivalent of a rhethorical “What can I do?”?
What comes closest IMO is
Was bleibt mir anderes übrig?
literally "what else is left for me", as in "what alternatives do I have?".
- 361
24
votes
What is the equivalent of "if you say so" in German?
Not much difference from the english phrasing.
Wenn Du das (so) sagst (meinst)?
Probably a slight difference with the tone telling so.
- 8,512
21
votes
Accepted
Dialect of a story from the "Koch-Buch für die Deutschen in Amerika" (1897)
This sounds clearly Swabian - a few indicators are
Metzelsupp (used in Southern German dialects),
S' Kürbsamärtes Hansjörg (common way of naming, i.e. genitive of family name followed by first name ...
- 24k
21
votes
What would be the way to say "just saying" in German? (Not the literal translation)
Kann man fast wörtlich übersetzen:
Ich sag's nur.
Wie πάντα ῥεῖ anmerkt in vielen Variationen denkbar:
Ich sag's ja nur.
Ich sag's nur mal.
Ich erwähn's nur.
Wollt ich (ja) nur mal gesagt (...
- 23.2k
19
votes
Accepted
Is there an expression that translates to "building character" in German?
In the context of exposure to cold and rain I probably would have said:
Das härtet ab!
With this meaning of abhärten in mind: to toughen s.o, to build up s.o.'s resistance, to make s.b. stronger
- 70.2k
19
votes
Accepted
How do you say "half the time …, the other half …" in German?
I suggest, as an idiomatic translation:
Johanna: Na, wie geht's bei der Arbeit?
Jakob: Furchtbar. Den halben Tag ärgere ich mich mit Kunden rum, die andere Hälfte geht mit Meetings drauf. ...
- 31.1k
19
votes
Accepted
German equivalent to using the word "well" as a bridge between two ideas
There are a few options.
"Nun" is among the more formal options. It can be used in written language:
Well, neural networks are ... - Nun, neuronale Netze sind ...
"Also" is less ...
- 1,021
17
votes
Accepted
Ein Restaurant verlassen, ohne die Rechnung zu begleichen
Wenn man ohne zu bezahlen aus dem Restaurant geht, so spricht man von
die Zeche prellen
Die Redewendung "mit Franzosen" dagegen wäre
sich (auf) französisch verabschieden / empfehlen
Dies ...
- 24k
17
votes
When speaking, how do you change your mind mid-sentence?
We also use »das heißt«, often abbreviated by »d. h.«.
Ich mag kein Eis, weil – das heißt, nein, ich mag Schokoladeneis, aber die anderen Sorten nicht.
Another valid part of the correction culture ...
- 16k
17
votes
How do you say "half the time …, the other half …" in German?
You could use "Die Hälfte der Zeit ... die andere Hälfte der Zeit ..."
- 313
17
votes
Accepted
Is there a German colloquialism to define a person working mainly with papers and documents?
Jonathan Scholbach has given two good examples already
Let me add a third: Bürohengst, which compared to Sesselfurzer carries more connotations of pedantry rather than laziness. It can refer to ...
- 680
16
votes
Is there an expression that translates to "building character" in German?
You can say:
Im Regen zu sein stärkt den Charakter.
Being in the rain strengthens the character.
(also »festigt« instead of »stärkt«)
But German native speakers won't say something like this ...
- 122k
15
votes
Accepted
What does 'vong' mean?
Well, it obviously is some reference to "Vong speech", a rather remarkable variety of German that has its roots in a popular Facebook group and was further popularized by companies desparate to reach ...
- 7,698
15
votes
What would be the way to say "just saying" in German? (Not the literal translation)
just saying is a filling phrase which does not have a close correspondent in German
In most cases, just saying is a filling phrase and could well be omitted without hurting the meaning. However, just ...
- 16.2k
15
votes
What is the most ‘understandable’ way to order sparkling water in German?
Collection of regional usage
For sparkling water there are various terms in German, and the common use in everyday life varies considerably in the various regions of the German speaking part of the ...
14
votes
Accepted
Usage of "Hab" during conversations
Imperative
The form »hab« in fact is an official conjugation of the verb »haben« in standard German. It is one of the two possible versions of the imperative singular (see »haben« in Wiktionary, ...
- 122k
14
votes
How do you say "half the time …, the other half …" in German?
I'm not convinced that the English sentence implies the time slices are equal or even similar-sized, it just seems to mean, that no time is left after considering both.
Therefore in German I would ...
- 27.9k
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