What does “den Sonntag einen Sonntag sein lassen” mean in German?
Ein entspannter Sonntag, Sprachen und Lesen auf Deutsch
B1 German listening practice · Standard German · Picked for people who know some
At the end of her slow Sunday, she says she’ll read a bit, cook something, and “den Sonntag einen Sonntag sein lassen.” It means: let Sunday be Sunday — stop pushing, drop the to-do list, and just take the day as it is. Germans use this kind of phrase to say: leave a thing alone and let it be what it is. Her tone is calm and content, not lazy — a quiet permission to rest.
Spoken line: “den Sonntag einen Sonntag sein lassen” — let Sunday be Sunday (just relax and enjoy it). The shape is “etwas etwas sein lassen” = leave something alone and let it be what it is. A few examples: - Lass den Sonntag einen Sonntag sein. — Let Sunday be a Sunday. Don’t fill it with work. - Wir lassen den Abend einen Abend sein. — Let’s just let the evening be the evening and take it easy. - Ich lasse die Arbeit heute Arbeit sein. — I’m leaving work as work today (not bringing it home). Note: “etwas sein lassen” on its own usually means “stop doing something” / “leave it” (Lass das sein! = Stop that!). The doubled “X ein X sein lassen” softens it into “let it just be what it is.”
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.