Man muss auf seine Garderobe achten
B2 German listening practice · Standard German · Curated for upper-intermediate learners
What does “Garderobe” mean in German?
A bar sign asks guests to watch their own Garderobe, and this comedian riffs on how blunt that is. Garderobe can mean several related things in German: a cloakroom or coat-check area, someone’s coat and bag left there, or, more broadly, a person’s wardrobe of clothing — all senses tracing back to French garder (“to keep, look after”) plus robe (“gown, dress”).
So a sign about the Garderobe is really about “keeping your dress/coat” — but in casual bar-speak, “watch your own Garderobe” just means “we’re not responsible for your coat.” The bit builds from there into a parody of old rhyming Gasthaus (inn) signs, a real German tradition of welcoming guests in verse rather than blunt legal disclaimers.
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Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s B2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.