This week, let's look at ways that disbelief and frustration are expressed in German. Some of the expressions below are similar to English expressions, while others have a much harsher meaning than their literal translations. Take a look!

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Das kann nicht sein (literally "that cannot be") can be used to express disbelief. More accurate translations in this case would be "No way!" or "That's not possible." 

Aber das kann nicht sein. Wo ist Yara?

But that's not possible. Where is Yara?

Caption 14, Nicos Weg - Folge 44: Vorm Fahrradladen

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In English, we also express disbelief with "You can't be serious." This has a few different translations in German that we have covered in a previous newsletter.  

Das meinst du nicht im Ernst.

You can't be serious.

Caption 17, Mama arbeitet wieder - Kapitel 2: Kompromisse zu finden ist nicht einfach

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The phrase Das gibt's doch gar nicht may literally translate as "that doesn't exist," but it has a similar meaning to Das kann nicht sein. Germans may use this and the expressions above when something both surprises and upsets them.

Was ist das denn? Das gibt's doch gar nicht.

What is that then? That just can't be.

Caption 27, Fußball - Prominente beim Benefizspiel

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The phrase Was soll das? is an expression that has a meaning similar to "What's the meaning of this?" 

Was soll das? Du störst uns, Pettersson.

What's the meaning of this? You are bothering us, Pettersson.

Caption 15, Pettersson und Findus - Eine Geburtstagstorte für die Katze - Part 1

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Now on to expressions of annoyance. Jemanden ärgern can be translated as "to annoy someone," as can jemanden nerven. In the sentence below with the adjectives ärgerlich and bescheuert, the words ja and doch are used for emphasis. 

Allerdings nervt es mich auch, dass ich die Einzige bin, die für das Essen bezahlt.

However, it also annoys me that I'm the only one who pays for the food.

Caption 34, Die Wohngemeinschaft - Probleme

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Das ist ja wirklich ärgerlich!

This is really aggravating!

Caption 6, Pettersson und Findus - Eine Geburtstagstorte für die Katze - Part 3

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Ach, ist doch bescheuert.

Oh, that's stupid.

Caption 63, Die Pfefferkörner - Eigentor

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Further Learning
Search for more examples of these phrases on Yabla German so that you can hear the right intonation.

You probably came across the verbs gehören and gefallen quite quickly when you began learning German. They both belong to a group of verbs in German that require a dative object. They are both a bit perplexing at first because most past participles in German begin with ge- (and gehört is indeed the past participle of hören), and also because they follow a particular structure when used in a sentence that doesn't necessarily match the structure in English.

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Also, mir gehört er auf jeden Fall nicht.

Well, it definitely doesn't belong to me.

Caption 49, Das Urban-Art-Projekt - Polnischer Militärhubschrauber

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Das gefällt mir richtig, richtig gut.

I really, really like it.

Caption 5, Auto-Bild-TV - Tops & Flops der IAA

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Notice that in the case of gehören we use the same structure in English, whereas with gefallen the sentence doesn't translate directly. The closest we could come in English is "It pleases me," but this is rarely used nowadays.

Now let's look at gelingen. We notice right away that, like gehören and gefallen, it begins with ge-, which can cause some confusion since it resembles a past participle. Gelingen is indeed the infinitive, and gelungen is the participle. 

Gelingen means "to succeed," "to work out," or "to manage to do something." When we express this in English, the structure is very different. You could almost say that the subject and object are switched. Whereas Das gehört mir is easily translatable as "That belongs to me," there is no such easy direct translation for phrases like Es gelingt ihnen or Es ist mir gelungen in English.

Den Tauchern gelingen die ersten Filmaufnahmen dieses Verhaltens.

The divers manage to get the first film footage of this behavior.

Caption 35, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten - Part 3

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Zusammen mit seiner Freundin gelingt ihm dann beim dritten Versuch endlich die Flucht.

Together with his girlfriend, he finally manages to escape on the third attempt.

Caption 20, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Radtour durch die Geschichte

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In the sentences above, the subjects are die ersten Filmaufnahmen and die Flucht and the objects are den Tauchern and ihm. In English, this is essentially reversed, or the adjective "successful" is employed. Here are a few more examples: 

Dem treuen Charlie gelingt zur Halbzeit, was er in sechshundertundzwei Bundesligaspielen nicht geschafft hat.

Faithful Charlie achieves at halftime what he hasn't managed in six hundred and two national league games.

Captions 28-29, Fußball - Prominente beim Benefizspiel

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Das ist uns nicht gelungen und... jetzt gilt es natürlich die nächsten Spiele hochkonzentriert anzugehen und dann die möglichen Punkte zu holen.

We were unsuccessful and... Now it's necessary of course to approach the next matches highly concentrated and then to get all points possible.

Captions 50-51, Fußball - U21-Nationalmannschaft - Part 3

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Further Learning
Some verbs that follow similar structures in German (but not always in English!) include: fehlen, gehorchen, passen, schmecken, and wehtun. Look these up, and then go to Yabla German to see them used in a real-world context.

Have you come across the phrase “strong verbs” or “weak verbs” in your studies and wondered what exactly is meant? 


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Strong verbs have a stem-vowel change in one or more tenses, for example in the simple past or present tense. In other words, they are irregular. The sign of a strong verb is that its participle will end with -en.

For example, with genießen ("to enjoy") the present tense conjugations do not have a vowel change, but the past tense does (genoss). The participle accordingly ends with
-en:

Genießt euren Kaffee, wie auch immer ihr den zubereitet.

Enjoy your coffee, regardless of how you make it.

Caption 39, Eva zeigt uns - wie man Kaffee kocht

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Und ich habe an einer sehr renommierten Universität ein sehr umfangreiches Marketingstudium genossen.

And I enjoyed a very comprehensive marketing program at a very renowned university.

Captions 26-27, Berufsleben - das Vorstellungsgespräch - Part 2

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In the case of the verb empfehlen (“to recommend”), the present and simple past tenses both have a different stem vowel change. Once again, the participle ends with -en:

Neben dem Stadtrad empfiehlt sich vor allem die Innsbruck Card für die Erkundung.

In addition to the city bike, above all, the Innsbruck card can be recommended for the exploration.

Captions 26-27, 48 h in Innsbruck - Sehenswürdigkeiten & Tipps

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Schafft das keine Linderung, wird empfohlen, die Höhe des Computerbildschirms zu überprüfen.

[If] that doesn't bring relief, it's recommended [that you] check the height of the computer screen.

Captions 19-20, Nackenverspannungen - Entspannungstipps für den Büroalltag

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Weak verbs are more “regular” in the sense that all tenses resemble the infinitive. The participle ends with -t. Let’s look at the verb reisen: 

Wenn man gemeinsam reist, ist es immer besser.

It's always better if you travel together.

Caption 20, Traumberuf - Windsurfer

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Dafür reiste das Filmteam bis nach Korsika.

For this the film team traveled as far away as Corsica.

Caption 35, Hell - Science-Fiction-Kinotipp

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Für zwei Wochen bin ich durchs Land gereist.

For two weeks, I traveled across the country.

Caption 20, Grete - eine Freiwillige in Israel

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Now, of course, because German is never easy, there are exceptions in the form of irregular weak verbs. These have a participle with -t rather than -en, but also have a stem vowel change. Many common verbs, such as bringen and wissen, fall into this category. 

Ein Benefiz-Fußballspiel brachte sie jedoch alle zusammen auf den Rasen.

A benefit football match nevertheless brought them all together on the turf.

Caption 2, Fußball - Prominente beim Benefizspiel

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Aschenputtel wurde in den Palast gebracht.

Cinderella was brought to the palace.

Caption 105, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Aschenputtel

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Further Learning
When you learn a new verb on Yabla German, always find out immediately whether it's strong or weak and memorize this as well as its definition. Here is an extensive list of strong and irregular verbs. Look up the participles of niesen versus genießen and of the verbs winken and stinken, which are particularly tricky. 

If you are a soccer fan, you are probably already familiar with many soccer terms, but here are few that may be new for you!

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A referee is a Schiedsrichter, but just as "ref" is often used as a shorter form for "referee" in English, so too in German is Schiri a shortening of Schiedsrichter:

Am besten holt sich jeder Schiri... knöpft sich einen Spieler vor.

It would be best if every ref got... to button up a player.

Caption 30, Die OLElympischen Spiele - Laotischer Hühnertanz

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The slang term Gelb sehen, literally to "see yellow," means a player has been penalized with a yellow penalty card:

Dafür habe ich aber 'ne gelbe Karte wegen Foulspielen an 'n Rasen bekommen,

For that, however, I received a yellow card for foul play against the field,

Caption 49, Rhein-Main-TV aktuell - Kick für Kids

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In the above caption you see the football terms das Foulspiel (foul play) and der Rasen (the playing field) too!

A penalty shot is called an Elfmeter, literally an "eleven meter," in reference to the distance from the goal, and in this case the shot was verschossen or "missed":

Aus Scham über den verschossenen Elfmeter pumpt Vettel erst mal ein paar Liegestütze.

From shame over the missed eleven meter [penalty shot], Vettel first pumps a few push-ups.

Caption 40, Fußball - Prominente beim Benefizspiel

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Here we manage to get four football terms in a single sentence!

Es ist ein Laufduell, ein Pass, der vor die Abwehr kommt, und ein Zweikampf.

It's a sprinting duel, a pass that comes before the defense, and a tackle.

Caption 37, Fußball - U21-Nationalmannschaft

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Further Learning:

Pop quiz: without peeking, what do the terms we just read about mean? Der Schiri, die gelbe Karte, das Foulspiel, der Rasen, verschossen, der Elfmeter, das Laufduell, der Pass, die Abwehr, der Zweikampf. If you would like to go beyond vocabulary and into some very funny German soccer philosophy, read the article in der Spiegel entitled "German Football's Greatest Sayings."