You're dead on the mark

German translation: den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen

05:53 Aug 22, 2002
English to German translations [Non-PRO]
English term or phrase: You're dead on the mark
ich glaube es heißt sowas wie: du bist knapp dran
Adrian
German translation:den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen
Explanation:
to be dead-on
Selected response from:

Ingrid Grzeszik
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen
Ingrid Grzeszik
4 +2Ganz genau!
kostan
5das trifft den Nagel auf dem Kopf
Craig Hills


  

Answers


21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen


Explanation:
to be dead-on

Ingrid Grzeszik
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in pair: 114

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alexander Schleber (X): Long and precise!
5 mins

agree  Geneviève von Levetzow
8 mins

agree  Steffen Walter
3 hrs
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Ganz genau!


Explanation:
als Alternative

kostan
Austria
Local time: 09:33
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 489

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alexander Schleber (X): Shorter and OK, depending on context.
3 mins

agree  Geneviève von Levetzow
6 mins
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
das trifft den Nagel auf dem Kopf


Explanation:
Idiomatically in English we would say "You hit the nail on the head"
which translates as "du hast den Nagel auf dem Kopf getroffen" or "du triffts den Nagel auf dem Kopf"

Alternatively:
you've hit it (on the head) -- du hast es (genau) getroffen;

he hit the mark -- er hat ins Schwarze getroffen;

to hit the mark -- ins Schwarze treffen;

to hit the mark -- treffen traf,getroffen);

to hit the nail on the head -- den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen;

"Du bist knapp drann" means "Almost but not quite" or "You're almost right"

"auf die Minute genau", means "right on the dot", used more for punctuality, etc.

"du hast ja aber Recht" = "You're dead right"


    Reference: http://wordreference.com/de/translation.asp?ende=hit+the+nai...
Craig Hills
Local time: 17:33
PRO pts in pair: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Steffen Walter: mind the grammar: den Nagel auf de*n* Kopf treffen (accusative)
2 hrs
  -> Sorry, should have checked before psoting, honestly a typo, the curse of fat fingers ;-D
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