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Too Literal Quiz 1
A Self-Scoring German Exercise

This quiz is based on our feature, Taking Things Too Literally. In that article we discuss the dangers of taking German-English translating too literally. You may want to review that article before taking the following quiz. After taking the quiz, see The Right Way to Say It, our special page with the correct German for the idioms in the quiz.

This is a self-scoring quiz with a total of 12 questions. In the chart below the English and German proverbs don't match. In the column on the left, you need to type in the LETTER of the correct answer. (Be sure to type your answers with CAPITAL letters!)

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Q U I Z
Expressions - Redewendungen
INSTRUCTIONS: Type in the LETTER of the "correct" English answer (A-L) for the German expressions 1-12. Be sure to type in only a CAPITAL letter!
Correct
ANSWER
A, B, etc.		 DEUTSCH ENGLISH
1. Er wurde aufgelegt. A. By the skin of my teeth.
2. Wie hast du ausgemacht? B. He was laid off.
3. Gib mir einen Bruch! C. That goes for you, too.
4. Das holt meine Ziege. D. He's doing time.
5. Wer ist auf? E. Go fly a kite!
6. Bei der Haut meiner Zähne. F. That gets my goat.
7. Etwas ist auf. G. What's eating you?
8. Es wird tun. H. Who's up?
9. Was isst dich? I. Something's up.
10. Er tut Zeit. J. How did you make out?
11. Das geht für dich auch. K. Give me a break.
12. Geh flieg einen Drachen! L. It'll do.
NOTE: If you want to see the proper way to say
these expressions, see the KEY link below.

SCORE =

Answer Key:
Mistakes? Double check your answers.
Did you type only in CAPITAL LETTERS?

KEY: See the Correct Answers

ARTICLE > Taking Things Too Literally

Proverbs Quiz 1
Try this other English-German self-scoring quiz.

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Idioms & Proverbs Quiz 2
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The Right Way to Say It
We present the correct German for the "Taking Things Too Literally" test items.

Idioms and Proverbs Glossary
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Idioms: Talk Like a German
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Farbenfroh: Colorful Expressions
German idioms and expressions that include a color. An article from your Guide.

Taking Things Too Literally
This quiz is based on this guest article.

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