Ways to say it
| German |
|---|
| gut gemacht |
| gut getan |
The phrase is used as an exclamation of praise to recognize someone's achievements. If you want to express high praise for exemplary performance or outstanding achievements in a formal setting, you can use Ausgezeichnete Arbeit! For informal praise, you might say Schön gemacht! or use the enthusiastic Super! to emphasize someone's accomplishments. You can also express recognition of a specific accomplishment by saying Das hast du gut gemacht!, which means "You did that well!"
Which one should you use?
Use gut gemacht to praise someone for an achievement. In contrast, gut getan is used in a literal or proverbial sense, such as in the phrase "well done is better than well said". Additionally, do not use gut gemacht to describe well-cooked meat. Instead, use gut durch or durchgebraten.
Related words
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use gut getan when they intend to praise someone's achievement. To avoid this, always use gut gemacht as the idiomatic expression for the exclamation of praise.
Did you know?
- The Proto-Indo-European root of gut, *gʰedʰ-, originally meant 'to unite' or 'to suit'.
- While gut gemacht praises an achievement, the phrase gut getan is used to describe something that felt good or was beneficial, such as a nap that gut getan to someone.
- To describe meat that is 'well done' in the culinary sense, Germans use the word durch, which literally means 'through'.
Examples in context
- Gut gemacht, mein Freund!Well done, my friend.This sentence shows how to use gut gemacht when addressing one friend.Tatoeba #6738695 by Pfirsichbaeumchen, translation #2977939 by Hybrid
- Gut gemacht, meine Freunde!Well done, my friends.This sentence shows how to use gut gemacht when addressing multiple friends.Tatoeba #6877531 by Pfirsichbaeumchen, translation #2977938 by Hybrid
- Gut getan ist besser als gut gesagt.Well done is better than well said.This sentence shows the use of gut getan in a proverbial context.Tatoeba #785456 by Pfirsichbaeumchen, translation #325874 by shekitten
- Gut gemacht! Deine Präsentation war klar strukturiert und informativ.Well done! Your presentation was well-structured and informative.
- 5 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Maximilian has just finished a difficult presentation at work.
- JuliaDas war eine tolle Präsentation!That was a great presentation!
- MaximilianDanke, Julia, ich war sehr nervös.Thanks, Julia, I was very nervous.
- JuliaGut gemacht!Well done!
- MaximilianVielen Dank für das Kompliment.Thank you very much for the compliment.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “well done” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries gut, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
