What does “mein Wort zurückziehen” mean in German?
Patriks geheime grüne Zutat sorgt für Diskussion
B1 German listening practice · German · Picked for people who know some
Christian swore he wouldn’t touch anything green. Then he tastes Patrik’s green dish — and it’s good. So he says, “Da musste ich mein Wort zurückziehen.” He’s not literally pulling a word back; he means he has to drop his promise and admit he was wrong. Germans say this when food, plans, or a strong opinion turns out better than expected and they have to back down with a smile.
In the clip: “Da musste ich mein Wort zurückziehen.” — “So I had to take back my word.” “sein Wort zurückziehen” means to drop a promise or claim you can no longer stand behind. “Wort” here is your given word, not a single vocabulary word; “zurückziehen” is to pull back. Plain examples: • “Ich nehme das zurück, du hattest recht.” — “I take that back, you were right.” (the short everyday version) • “Er musste seine Kritik zurückziehen.” — “He had to take his criticism back.” • “Da ziehe ich mein Wort zurück — das schmeckt wirklich gut.” — “I take my word back — that really tastes good.” Tone is light here, like English “I have to eat my words.” It can also be serious — pulling back a promise or a statement you made publicly.
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than B1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.