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Hm, da ist wohl jemand ziemlich gereizt.

= "Someone ... looks irritated there."

Da hat sich wohl jemand zu früh gefreut.

= "Someone ... got their hopes up too soon there."

I wonder if this is an idiomatic fixed expression to refer to "a certain someone" in an indirect and joking manner?

Community
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Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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2 Answers2

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Indeed, your assumption is correct.

The "sarcastic/ironic" element is mainly conveyed by the use of "wohl", and in particular through the fixed combination of "da ... wohl ...".

One could also say

Da hast du dich wohl zu früh gefreut!

translating roughly as "You rejoiced too soon!" (with the connotation of "I told you so"/"I suspected that already"). So the element "jemand" is not strictly necessary, the construction can also be used without it in different contexts.

As Pollitzer mentioned in his answer, the phrase can of course also be used without an ironic connotation, describing an assumption.

Volker Siegel
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Gerhard
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  • As you said, it's not always a certain someone; it may well be an indefinite someone, i.e. someone of a certain group, of all addressees ("Ihr habt einen Fleck übersehen. Da wird ..."), though word order could make the difference (cp "... wohl nochmal jemand drüber gehen müssen" vs "?...wohl jemand nochmal drüber gehen müssen") or an unknown (i.e. "der Übeltäter"). Hencw the ironic sarcasm works so well. Whereas, "a certain someone" exposes the indefinite-definite contrast directly. I'm trying to say, "ein bestimter Jemand" (viz "jemand bestimmtes") works--hence OP's translation is lossy. – vectory Sep 22 '19 at 14:55
3

da (...) wohl jemand

is not always used in sarcastic or joking context.

The answer in the following sample is simply an assumption concerning the reason for the disappeared animals:

»Die Versuchstiere sind weg!«

»Hm, da hat wohl jemand die Tür offen gelassen.«

Maybe someone had inadvertently left open the door.

Pollitzer
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