In her guide to German slang, Expatica's resident German teacher Renate Grasstat takes a look at all the German you never learned at the Goethe Institut.

When Martin, a very bright Polish student from my advanced level class, told us he had watched a film in German and understood almost everything, I was really proud. (Stupid thing perhaps - to be proud of students whose German level seems to improve or not according to completely unpredictable laws…)

But he hadn't finished yet. "There was just one word we never learned," he said, and I at once felt slightly guilty, "and they used it all the time: What does 'verarschen' mean?"

I hope you're not thinking of verarsching me?

In German, it's easy to explain: It is a vulgar form of "betrügen" (betray, deceive, cheat) – a very vulgar form. That's why it is not used in the classroom and in no textbook I ever saw. People say: "Willst du mich verarschen?" and what they mean is sometimes simply that they do not believe what somebody said and suspect him of using tricks or just making fun of them - or they really mean that somebody tries to deceive them.

First I was struck that "they used it all the time" - what kind of film was that?!

"A Hollywood movie", Martin answered, "just dubbed into German." That sounded like Bud Spencer, getting angry with someone. But how did he originally say it? When trying to find a suitable translation for the word, you won't be very successful. "Are you kidding?" might be an option, but much too soft. "Take someone in"? "Bullshit somebody?" Maybe… "Are you trying to f*** with me?" seems to me a version that is 'tough' enough to compete with the German expression.

But as this is obviously so important for understanding "real life" language, I started to prepare a list of the most common words from colloquial German. Did you know that words describing illegal situations or money are probably the words used most frequently here?

Gangsters

Klauen
Surprisingly, the word "klauen" for stealing is used more than the "normal" word "stehlen" when listening to people speaking, no matter what class they belong to. "Klauen" comes from the noun "die Klaue" (claw) and is the real top colloquial word, followed by...

A highly educational film for learners of German slang

Kohle, Knete
Two very common words for money.  Does it mean we Germans are dealing mainly with illegal matters when talking to others in an informal way? There are many words for money - words that originally had to be used  by villains who needed to hide from the police. Germany must have been full of them…

Abzocken
To rip s.o. off

Knast
Very common word for prison

Difficult situations

die Daumen drücken
To keep your fingers crossed (when wishing somebody good luck)

verpeilt sein
To be distracted, absent-minded, and therefore miss opportunities, appointments etc.

wurst / wurscht
"Das ist mir wurscht": I don't care

Quatsch
Rubbish, nonsense, bullshit

Du spinnst wohl!
Are you kidding? Are you crazy?

What was the word again? Ah yes, saufen.

Night life

Gut drauf sein
To be in a good mood

Angesagt
Hip (for clubs, music etc.)

Rumhängen / abhängen
Hang around

Durchmachen
Get no sleep during the night, stay in clubs etc. or work the whole night through: "Ich habe gestern durchgemacht."

Einen drauf machen
To have a ball (re. drinking, parties etc.)
"Heute Abend machen wir einen drauf!"

Anmachen 
Trying to approach s.b. you find attractive
See also: anbaggern

"Mach mich nicht an!" (Can also mean: provoke s.b. in an aggressive way)

Abschleppen
Leave the party / club with somebody to go home

Saufen
To drink (a lot)

Besoffen, voll
drunk

Kater
Hangover

"Young life"

I would like to mention that some of the following expressions are not really politically correct, especially the ones for women. But they are used quite frequently and you might hear them in films, bars etc.

Kerl, Typ
Words for men

Alter
Used among young men, like in "Hey, Alter, was geht?" (Strange form of "How are you" / "What's going on?"). The answer is: "Nicht viel" (nothing much)

Can be used also for the boss, the father or the parents ("meine Alten"), sometimes even for a woman, but this is how some elderly men in pubs talk about their wives: It sounds very negative!

Mädel
Young woman (used to be an old-fashioned word for "Mädchen", somehow re-discovered by the young generation)

Tussi, Zicke
Negative word for woman, esp. woman who want to be very fashionable, but are somehow getting on your nerves because they are arrogant or picky or just annoying

Zickenalarm
"Zicken" in sight / too many women (see above)

In the movie "Gegen die Wand" (English title: "Head On") the protagonist comes home to find his newly married wife has cleaned and tidied up everything that had been really chaotic before (which he had liked this way). He grumbles something like: "Was is das denn? Zickenalarm?"

So we end up with a film – again it shows that many expressions listed here should be part of your passive knowledge. And if you do decide to use them in spite of my warning: don't tell anybody where you learned them!

To read more about Renate Graßtat you can click on Education - Language Instruction under Expatica's business directory.

Do you have questions about the German language? Write to Renate Graßtat and she may use your question in a future column.

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Renate is currently offering new classes on "Survival German", Business Language, Understanding the Media, German Literature and Exam Preparation 2006. Visit www.learn-german.de or call +49 (0)30 615 26 35 for more information.

14 March 2006

Copyright Expatica 2006

Subject: Ask our German teacher, learning German, German language, German teacher in Berlin, German slang, everyday German, German expressions