ganz schön

German

Etymology

Literally, “entirely beautifully”.

Pronunciation

  • (idiomatic: stress on ganz) IPA(key): /ˈɡant͡s ˌʃøːn/, (contracted also) /ˈɡanʃøːn/, /ˈɡanʃən/
  • (non-idiomatic: level stress) IPA(key): /ˈɡant͡s ˈʃøːn/

Adverb

ganz schön

  1. (idiomatic) pretty, quite, rather (to an usual or surprising degree)
    Synonyms: ziemlich, reichlich
    Das Hemd ist aber ganz schön teuer. ― This shirt is pretty expensive.
    Der Park ist ganz schön groß. ― This park is quite big.
    Du hast ganz schön lange Haare. ― You have rather long hair.
    Er hat sich ganz schön geärgert. ― He was pretty upset.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see ganz,‎ schön.
    Die Kinder haben ganz schön gesungen. ― The children sang very nicely.

Usage notes

  • The simple adverb schön may have the same sense, but only when the interpretation as “nicely, pleasantly” is ruled out from the context. This would be the case in example sentence 4 and usually in example sentence 1 (unless the speaker is known to prefer their shirts expensive).
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