Abgemacht ist abgemacht.
Ein Mann, ein Wort — a man, a word.
Darauf kannst du dich verlassen — you can rely on that.
Sein Wort halten — to keep one’s word, and sein Wort brechen, to break it, which is spoken of as damage done to the word itself.
The German expressions treat the agreement as a thing that exists after the conversation ends, independent of either party’s continued attention.
A German supplier contacted mid-project to confirm that the agreement still holds will hear the question as it was not asked. The enquiry implies that something might have changed, that the priority might have slipped, or that the supplier might have forgotten. None of those is a neutral suggestion.
For monetary claims, a German debtor falls into default at the latest thirty days after the debt becomes due and the invoice arrives — without any reminder being sent. The provision is § 286 Abs. 3 BGB. The creditor is not required to chase. The obligation runs on its own clock.
Pacta sunt servanda is quoted in German legal education as the foundation of contract law, and German civil law treats the binding force of agreement as a starting premise rather than as one consideration among several. An agreement is not a statement of current intention that both sides revisit. It is the thing that was settled.
Lieber richtig als schnell — rather correct than fast.
Was lange währt, wird endlich gut — what takes long becomes good in the end.
Gründlichkeit geht vor Schnelligkeit — thoroughness before speed.
Pfusch am Bau — botched building work, the standard German phrase for what haste produces.
Four ordinary expressions, all approving delay and all naming the same alternative.
Where performance is late, a German creditor generally cannot simply withdraw from the contract. He must first set a reasonable further period and let it run — § 323 Abs. 1 BGB. The law builds a second chance into lateness. What is not tolerated is the failure that survives the second chance.
That automatic default only applies where the date was fixed by contract, by statute or by court judgment. A payment deadline written unilaterally on an invoice does not count — the Federal Court of Justice has held that it is merely an offer of credit terms.
A deadline one party announced is not a deadline. It has to have been agreed.
German law normally requires the creditor to send a reminder before the debtor is formally in default. But where the parties have fixed a performance date by the calendar, no reminder is required at all — § 286 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 BGB. Default begins the moment the date passes.
The Latin maxim is quoted in German textbooks: dies interpellat pro homine — the day admonishes in place of the man.
A German who agreed a date does not expect to be chased, and the law agrees with him.
Under German law an acceptance that departs in content from the offer is not an acceptance at all. It counts as a rejection combined with a new offer — § 150 BGB. The same applies to an acceptance that arrives too late, and a rejection extinguishes the original offer outright under § 146 BGB.
Ja, aber is legally a no. The original offer is gone, and the roles reverse — the person who made the first offer is now the one deciding.
To avoid being bound, a German offer must carry an explicit disclaimer — freibleibend, without obligation, or ohne Obligo. The escape has to be stated. Silence does not preserve your freedom, it removes it, which is why Germans are careful about what they put in writing.