Macht -- as in Es macht spaß

In lesson 2.2, on a tour, we see "It's good fun" in German as "Es macht spaß".  
We also see "The tour will be fun" in German as "Die Tour macht spaß."

Why?  Is it the word spaß?  How can macht be "good" and "will be".  I am confused.
 

The translations in the course are not always literal. "Es macht spaß" is how Germans say something is fun. The addition of "good" is done by the translator.

I couldn't find the phrase "Die Tour macht spaß." using my vocab, but  I should think it literally means the tour is fun. I guess in some contexts the future could be implied.

So think of "macht spaß" as a chunk that you just learn if you want to say something is fun.  See this video about chunking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuIbip76wTY


 

I found the translations somewhat annoying when I first started this course several years ago.  I just started resuming it (RG) along with other German studies recently.The translators tend to add or leave out adverbs and adjectives.  I realize, of course, that exact translations to English are not always possible.

Thank you both for replying.  I am an Engineer and so I tend analyze (German) words as they relate to a sentence and not necessarily in grammatical context or colloquial meaning. I should probably reflect more on my native tongue (US) English to understand that sometimes a phrase is just a phrase.

sfpugh -- I watched the videos on "chunking" that you supplied.  I do learn better that way.  I am also learning more German here because RG is not bogging me down with grammatical rules.

Thanks again,

Badger

How much grammar does one need is the question.  I agree, it can get in the way of learning to communicate simple, if not abstract or elegant ideas.  Still, one does need to understand basic structures although if you hear enough German it will come somewhat naturally the way, I suppose, a child will learn a second language.

The 'Chunking' that sfpuh introduced to us is a nice way of learning, although I have yet to see the 3rd video in the series.  That is where they detail the 'Chunking' and how to spot Chunks.  I like RG because I am learning German without being burdened by the rules of  grammar.  I know that will follow.  For grammar I use Babbel.com, which is the best at grammar -- they hammer it into you.  And then GermanPod101.com because that is similar to RG in that you are learning converstaional German with cultural and grammatical information.  They just don't hound you on grammar the way Babbel does.  Plus, on GermanPod101.com they ARE ALL German speakers so I can truly hear the difference in the accent.  In RG, Nik is English and the accent comes through and her pronunciation of 'ch' and 'ich' is off the mark.  Paul is better.

Thanks for the feedback.

Badger