What does “den Geist der Zeit getroffen” mean in German?

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B2 German listening practice · German · Picked for people who know more

💡 Did you know?
den Geist der Zeit getroffen
Common idiom
“Hit the spirit of the time” — made something that matches exactly what people want right now.

A reporter opens the story about a new Mercedes electric SUV by saying the carmaker “hat den Geist der Zeit getroffen” — hit the spirit of the time. It is a warm, slightly impressed way to say the car arrived at exactly the right moment and matched what buyers wanted. The proof follows straight away: it was ordered more than any other Mercedes electric car in its first three months.

Spoken in the clip: “Mit diesem Auto haben sie offenbar den Geist der Zeit getroffen.” — “With this car they have clearly hit the spirit of the time.” “Geist” is spirit or mind, “Zeit” is time, and “treffen” here means to hit the mark. Together they say something fits exactly what people want now. More examples: “Die Serie hat den Geist der Zeit getroffen” (the show captured the mood of the moment). “Mit dieser Idee triffst du den Geist der Zeit” (your idea is just right for now). Often used to praise; “offenbar” softens the claim to “apparently, by the looks of it.”

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this B2 German listening practice video?

85.2%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common German words
Most of the words in this video are common German words.

How common in written German

79.4%
Top 1,000
85.2%
Top 2,000
95.5%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken German

90.7%
Top 1,000
95.5%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in German.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than B2. Here is what they mean.

autostadt
3×
Not in top 5,000
car city, automobile city
glc
3×
Not in top 5,000
(abbreviation/fragment)
hansalinie
2×
Not in top 5,000
Hanse shipping line
vollelektrische
2×
Not in top 5,000
fully electric
ändernde
1×
Not in top 5,000
changing; altering (present participle)

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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