Öl ins Feuer gießen
to add fuel to the fire; to make things worse
Origin
A very old image, already in the Roman poet Horace ("oleum addere camino"): pour oil on a fire and the flames flare up - figuratively, stoking a quarrel.
Building blocks
Words in this expression
Grammar that uses this word
- Pronoun 'ich' (I, nominative)Pronomen 'ich' (Nominativ)
- Pronoun 'er' (he/it, nominative)Pronomen 'er' (Nominativ)
- Pronoun 'wir' (we, nominative)Pronomen 'wir' (Nominativ)
- Pronoun 'ihr' (you all, informal, nominative)Pronomen 'ihr' (Nominativ)
- Preposition 'um' (around/at, accusative)Präposition 'um' (Akkusativ)
- Temporal clause with 'während' (while)Temporalsatz mit 'während'
Examples
Mit seiner goss er nur Öl .
With his remark he only added fuel to the fire.