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.
zu bunt werden
(To become too colourful)
Imagine you have an important meeting (eine wichtige Besprechung) today.
You go to your closet to pick out a nice suit (einen schönen Anzug).
You open the closet (Du öffnest den Schrank) and, there you go, a white suit and a black suit.
Easy choice, right?!
You pick the white one (Du nimmst den Weißen) or the black one.
Now imagine you open the closet and you see tons of suits of all different kinds of colours (in vielen verschiedenen Farben).
Now, the choice is much harder.
It might even feel overwhelming, unmanageable, chaotic to make a decision (um eine Entscheidung zu treffen).
It feels like this is way too much.
And that’s exactly what we mean with this German expression.
When we say in German:
- Das wird mir zu bunt!
We mean:
- This is too much for me.
- I have enough!
Got it?!
So here’s your action step:
Imagine (Stell dir vor) your German-speaking colleague Andreas has prepared a presentation for your next team- meeting.
You come to the meeting and you and your colleagues take a seat in the meeting room (nehmt Platz im Besprechungsraum).
Suddenly (Plötzlich) , Andreas comes in, picks up a guitar, and …
Look at your colleagues and tell them:
- Das wird mir hier zu bunt. Ich gehe. (This is too much for me. I’m leaving.)
And this is what it sounds like:
Then, tell me in the comments below how they reacted :-)