Work in progress! Native speakers are still checking every phrase. Spot something off? Tell us.
cursing.in curse like a local

German · The Du/Sie Trap

Wir haben zusammen keine Schweine gehütet!

VEER HAH-ben tsoo-ZAM-en KINE-uh SHVINE-uh guh-HUE-tet · /viːɐ̯ ˈhaː.bn̩ t͡suˈza.mən ˈkaɪ.nə ˈʃvaɪ.nə ɡəˈhyː.tət/

Don't you dare address me so familiarly — we're not on 'du' terms

2/5 Bar-safe

coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances

Literally

"We haven't herded pigs together!"

Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.

How to use it

The perfect window onto the Du/Sie trap: if a stranger presumptuously "duzt" you (uses the intimate "du"), this is the withering comeback — we never tended swine side by side, so keep your distance and use "Sie." Old-fashioned, class-tinged, gloriously specific, and still deployed by affronted Germans of a certain bearing. Being "geduzt" uninvited is a real slight, occasionally even litigated.

Heard in the wild

Wie reden Sie mit mir? Wir haben zusammen keine Schweine gehütet!

How dare you address me like that? We're not on first-name terms!

Where it lands

Germany, Austria — traditional, register-policing

Quick answers

What does "Wir haben zusammen keine Schweine gehütet!" mean?
In German, "Wir haben zusammen keine Schweine gehütet!" means "Don't you dare address me so familiarly — we're not on 'du' terms". Literally it's "We haven't herded pigs together!". The perfect window onto the Du/Sie trap: if a stranger presumptuously "duzt" you (uses the intimate "du"), this is the withering comeback — we never tended swine side by side, so keep your distance and use "Sie." Old-fashioned, class-tinged, gloriously specific, and still deployed by affronted Germans of a certain bearing. Being "geduzt" uninvited is a real slight, occasionally even litigated.
Is "Wir haben zusammen keine Schweine gehütet!" offensive?
It's on the mild end — 2/5 (Bar-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances.
How do you pronounce "Wir haben zusammen keine Schweine gehütet!"?
Say it "VEER HAH-ben tsoo-ZAM-en KINE-uh SHVINE-uh guh-HUE-tet" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: viːɐ̯ ˈhaː.bn̩ t͡suˈza.mən ˈkaɪ.nə ˈʃvaɪ.nə ɡəˈhyː.tət.

Related in German

Leck mich am Arsch! LEK mikh am ARSH Kiss my ass! / Get stuffed! (and, oddly, 'well I'll be damned!') Du kannst mich mal! doo KANST mikh MAHL You can get stuffed / up yours — the polite half-curse Sie Arschloch! ZEE ARSH-loch The formal-register insult — cold, deliberate contempt Scheiße! SHY-suh Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive Verdammt! fair-DAMT Damn! / Damn it! Verdammt nochmal! fair-DAMT NOCH-mahl God damn it! / For crying out loud!

Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.