DE German · neutral · 2 of 6
die Daumen drücken
warm, encouraging
Also written die Daumen halten.
Word by word
the · thumbs · press
Idiomatic sense
To keep one's thumbs pressed for someone, as a wish that a thing will go well: an exam, a journey, a conversation. The gesture is the idiom. English crosses fingers for the same wish. The hands do different things.
It is warm, and it is ordinary enough for a colleague or a relative. It is not a promise that one will intervene.
Examples
Ich drücke dir die Daumen für die Prüfung.
I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for your exam.
Drückt mir die Daumen.
Wish me luck.
Equivalents
Marks say how far the other phrase travels with this one. How to read them.
- near
to keep one's fingers crossed
The same wish, a different gesture. English can also cross fingers for one's own hope. German most often presses thumbs for someone, in the dative.
- near
croiser les doigts
Crossed fingers again. Same job as the English.
- partial
The luck itself, after the result. Daumen drücken is the wish beforehand.
- none
うまくいきますように
A plain well-wish. Japanese does not bind this hope to a stock gesture-phrase of the same kind. No equivalent is claimed.
Notes
Die Daumen halten is widely used and means the same thing. The headword is the drücken form.
Crossing the fingers is understood in Germany, and it is still not what this phrase says. Translating it as "I press my thumbs for you" keeps the image and loses the English idiom. The example translation takes the idiom.
Sources
- Standard idiom. Wording is original.