How do you say “Fly by the seat of your pants” in German?
The closest natural German equivalent is seinem Riecher folgen, which literally means “to follow one's nose for things”. English speakers use fly by the seat of your pants to mean to act on instinct without a detailed plan. A German expression for following instinct. The lack of a plan needs to be clear from the surrounding sentence. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural German
seinem Riecher folgen
/ˈzaɪnəm ˈʁiːçɐ ˈfɔlɡn̩/
- Literal meaning
- “to follow one's nose for things”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Close equivalent
84 out of 100
What a native German speaker would actually say
A “Riecher” is a knack for sensing what will work. This makes the German phrase sound rather more confident than English improvisation can be.
Use it when someone relies on judgement as events unfold. If they are simply unprepared, “improvisieren” is a plainer description.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning4 out of 5
- Tone4 out of 5
- Context4 out of 5
- Literal similarity1 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
In context
English
With no recipe, I was flying by the seat of my pants in the kitchen.
German
Ohne Rezept folgte ich in der Küche einfach meinem Riecher.
English
We had no schedule and flew by the seat of our pants all weekend.
German
Wir hatten keinen Zeitplan und folgten das ganze Wochenende unserem Riecher.
Related expressions
Last updated 2026-10-01