{"id":13419,"date":"2021-10-12T18:59:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T18:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13419"},"modified":"2021-10-12T10:45:45","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T10:45:45","slug":"responding-to-wie-gehts-in-german","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/responding-to-wie-gehts-in-german\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding To ‘Wie Geht’s?’ In German"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Wie geht\u2019s?<\/strong> In my last post<\/a>, we looked at alternative ways of saying this phrase, which means \u2018How are you?\u2019<\/strong> in German. In this post, we\u2019re going to look at alternative responses you can give, aside from the standard \u2018Gut, danke\u2019 (\u2018Good, thanks\u2019). After all, what if you\u2019re not feeling good? Or what if someone asks you, \u2018Was gibt\u2019s denn Neues?\u2019 (\u2018What\u2019s new?\u2019) – or any other question that can\u2019t logically be answered with \u2018Gut, danke\u2019?! Read on for a selection of different responses to help expand your vocabulary and have better conversations (even during small talk)!<\/p>\n

\"wie

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

das Geplauder – Small talk
\n(… although it’s also called der Smalltalk in German)<\/em><\/h3>\n

First of all, here are some standard responses if you just want to be polite and answer the question, without getting into further conversation. Starting with the go-to exchange:<\/p>\n

Wie geht es dir?<\/strong> (How are you?)
\nGut, danke.<\/strong> (Good, thanks)<\/p>\n

If you wanted to ask the other person how they are, simply add, \u2018Und dir?\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018And you?\u2019) onto the end of your response.<\/p>\n

You can also answer \u2018Gut, danke\u2019 to the following questions:<\/p>\n

Wie l\u00e4uft\u2019s?<\/strong> (\u2018How\u2019s it going?\u2019)
\nWie geht\u2019s, wie steht\u2019s?<\/strong> (\u2018How\u2019s it going?\u2019)
\nGeht es dir gut?<\/strong> (\u2018Are you well?\u2019)
\nAlles okay?<\/strong> (\u2018Everything OK?\u2019)
\nWie f\u00fchlst du dich heute?<\/strong> (\u2018How are you feeling today?\u2019)<\/p>\n

If someone asks you, \u2018Was geht ab?\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018What\u2019s happening?\/What\u2019s up?\u2019) or ‘Was gibt’s denn Neues?’<\/strong> (‘What’s new?’), you can respond with \u2018Nicht viel\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018Not much\u2019) or \u2018Einiges\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018Quite a lot\/A fair bit\u2019).<\/p>\n

If someone asks you, \u2018Was macht die Arbeit?\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018How\u2019s work?\u2019), a neutral response would be something like, \u2018Wie immer\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018As always\u2019\/\u2019Same old\u2019) or \u2018Passt schon\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018All good\u2019).<\/p>\n

Other, neutral responses to similar questions are: \u2018In Ordnung\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018All good\u2019\/\u2019No problems\u2019) or \u2018Ich kann mich nicht beschweren\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018Can\u2019t complain\u2019).<\/p>\n

\"wie

Photo by Harli Marten<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Wie geht’s?<\/h3>\n

Now, if you want to open up the conversation a little more, here are a selection of phrases you can use to let the person know you\u2019ve got more to say:<\/p>\n

\u2018Wei\u00dft du was\u2019<\/em><\/strong> is a great little opener that means \u2018you know what?\u2019 and can be used to draw the listener in:<\/p>\n

Wei\u00dft du was, Josh, mir geht\u2019s…<\/strong>
\nYou know what, Josh, I feel…<\/em><\/p>\n

Wei\u00dft du was, Josh, alles ist super!<\/strong>
\nYou know what, Josh, everything’s brilliant!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Eigentlich\u2019<\/strong> <\/em>is a way of saying \u2018actually\u2019 or \u2018as a matter of fact\u2019, and can be used to indicate your answer will get straight to the point:<\/p>\n

Eigentlich bin ich sauer.<\/strong>
\nActually, I\u2019m angry.<\/em><\/p>\n

Eigentlich f\u00fchle ich mich, als h\u00e4tte ich keine Ahnung, was ich tue.<\/strong>
\nActually, I feel like I have no clue what I\u2019m doing.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018In letzter Zeit\u2019<\/strong> <\/em>means \u2018lately\u2019 or \u2018recently\u2019. You might want to use this one to indicate a change in your circumstances or mood:<\/p>\n

Ich bin in letzter Zeit so m\u00fcde!<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m so tired lately!<\/em><\/p>\n

If things aren\u2019t going so well (and you want people to know!), you might use this little phrase:<\/p>\n

Ach, frag nicht! <\/strong>– Ugh, don\u2019t ask!<\/p>\n

\"wie

Coffee? Yes, I’d love to! Photo by Frank Leuderalbert<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Now, if you wanted to have a longer chat, it would make sense to ask the other person if they\u2019re free first. An exchange may look like this:<\/p>\n

Hey, Sara! Was geht ab?<\/strong>
\nHallo, Matthias. Einiges. Hast du Zeit f\u00fcr einen Kaffee\/ein Bier?<\/strong>
\nJa, nat\u00fcrlich! Erz\u00e4hl mir alles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hey, Sara! What\u2019s up?<\/em>
\nHello, Matthias. A whole lot. Do you have time for a coffee\/a beer?<\/em>
\nYeah, of course! Tell me everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes, we really need someone to talk to, but it can be difficult to ask. It\u2019s very easy to become robotic when we have the \u2018Wie geht es dir?\u2019\/\u2019Gut danke\u2019 exchange (in any language!), as we often reply \u2018Gut, danke\u2019 when we are feeling anything but gut<\/em>! The next time you feel low and someone asks how you are, if you trust that person then tell them:<\/p>\n

Ich f\u00fchle mich einsam. Ich brauche jemanden zum Reden.<\/strong>
\nI feel lonely. I need someone to talk to.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"wie

Photo by Annie Spratt<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Finally, you might like to thank the person for asking about you, or for listening to you. Simply say:<\/p>\n

Danke f\u00fcrs Fragen<\/strong> \u2013 Thanks for asking.
\nDanke f\u00fcrs Zuh\u00f6ren<\/strong> \u2013 Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n

I hope this has been helpful. If you\u2019d like more vocabulary for feelings & emotions, click on this post: Expressing Feelings and Emotions | German Language Blog (transparent.com)<\/a><\/p>\n

Bis bald<\/p>\n

Constanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Wie geht\u2019s? In my last post, we looked at alternative ways of saying this phrase, which means \u2018How are you?\u2019 in German. In this post, we\u2019re going to look at alternative responses you can give, aside from the standard \u2018Gut, danke\u2019 (\u2018Good, thanks\u2019). After all, what if you\u2019re not feeling good? Or what…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":13423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8,376076],"tags":[53,7386,7401,95131,457016,376023,2538,13],"class_list":["post-13419","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","category-vocabulary","tag-conversation","tag-emotions","tag-feelings","tag-german-language","tag-german-vocabulary","tag-language","tag-speaking","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13419"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13430,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13419\/revisions\/13430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}