Near-Native Fluency (C2)

Common German Idioms (Redewendungen)

| Idiom | Literal | Meaning | |-------|---------|---------| | Daumenschrauben anlegen | put on thumbscrews | to put pressure on someone | | Ins Gras beißen | bite into the grass | to die / kick the bucket | | Auf dem Holzweg sein | be on the wood path | to be on the wrong track | | Den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen | hit the nail on the head | to hit the nail on the head | | Keine Ahnung haben | have no idea | to have no clue | | Jemandem auf die Nerven gehen | go on someone's nerves | to annoy someone | | Das ist nicht mein Bier. | That's not my beer. | That's not my problem/concern. | | Tomaten auf den Augen haben | have tomatoes on the eyes | to be oblivious |

Key Collocations

Some adjectives/nouns/verbs simply "belong together" in German:

| Collocation | Meaning | |-------------|---------| | eine Entscheidung treffen | to make a decision | | einen Fehler machen | to make a mistake | | eine Frage stellen | to ask a question | | Verantwortung übernehmen | to take responsibility | | Rücksicht nehmen auf | to be considerate of | | in Frage stellen | to call into question |

Subtle Distinctions at C2

sagen vs. meinen vs. behaupten: - sagen — neutral: to say - meinen — to mean/think/be of the opinion - behaupten — to claim/assert (implies possible doubt)

denken vs. glauben vs. meinen: - denken — to think (process) - glauben — to believe (conviction/faith) - meinen — to be of the opinion (often inviting agreement)

bekommen vs. kriegen vs. erhalten: - bekommen — standard German - kriegen — colloquial (avoid in formal contexts) - erhalten — formal written German only