kalte Füße bekommen
to get cold feet; to lose one's nerve
Origin
Probably from the English gambling world: a player with bad cards who wanted to back out used the excuse that in the cold cellars he had "got cold feet".
Building blocks
Words in this expression
Grammar that uses this word
- Adjective declension after the definite article (nom./acc.)Adjektivdeklination nach bestimmtem Artikel (Nom./Akk.)
- Nominalized infinitives and substantivized adjectivesNominalisierte Infinitive und substantivierte Adjektive
- Perfect tense of inseparable verbs (hat verstanden, no ge-)Perfekt untrennbarer Verben
- Future I with 'werden' + infinitiveFutur I mit 'werden' + Infinitiv
- pro (per)pro (+ Akkusativ)
- Purpose clause with 'um … zu' (same subject)Finalsatz mit 'um ... zu'
Examples
Kurz der hat er kalte Füße .
Just before signing he got cold feet.