Let’s have some fun with this weird German language!
In this series of posts, I’ll show you how to make your German speaking colleagues laugh with ONE simple sentence.
In die Gänge kommen
(Into gears come)
die Gänge are the gears, like the ones in a car.
You know that in order to drive faster you need to change gears (um schneller zu fahren, musst du die Gänge wechseln).
And that’s exactly what we mean with this German expression.
So when we say in German:
- Komm in die Gänge!
We actually mean:
- Get off the ground!
- Shake a leg!
- Hurry up!
Got it?!
So here’s your action step:
Imagine you’re about to enter a meeting with your German-speaking colleague Karl-Rüdiger at 8 o’clock (mit deinem deutschsprachigen Kollegen Karl-Rüdiger um 8 Uhr).
It’s 7.59 and Karl-Rüdiger calls you to tell you that he’s on his way (dass er auf dem Weg ist).
Reply to him:
- Komm in Gänge! Das Meeting fängt in einer Minute an. (Shake a leg! The meeting starts in one minute.)
And this is what it sounds like:
Then, tell me in the comments below how he reacted :-)