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- Topic: German >
- "Der Winter ist vorbei."
33 Comments
Der Winter ist schon hier. Die Lange Nacht wird kommen und mit ihr die Toten.
It says the winter HAS passed. Surely ist = is? HAS would be der Winter HAT vorbei?
I know I'm wrong but can anyone tell me why?
It is because vorbei means "is over" or "has passed", so you can use "is" or "has". But note that this have not with the " ist", you should not translate word by word, because diferents languages has diferents ways of put a word for something. By exemple: in english you say "I AM hungry" and in german you say "Ich HABE Hunger", and not " Ich bin hungrig".
If 'vorbei' means 'has passed' them why use 'ist'? Why not just 'der winter vorbei'? 'The winter is has passed' isn't right.
as rkaustchr said, don:t take it word by word, "ist vorbei" has the meaning of "has passed". If you REALLY want to translate word by word, "ist vorbei" = "is over" should satisfy you.
Although in this case the German does not use a verb where the English did, in general, intransitive verbs use ist instead of hat to form the past perfect in German.
"Vorbei" is an adjective, kind of like "over". "Passed" is a past participle, so you use it differently. So any of these sentences should be correct and should all mean the same thing: "The winter is over." "The winter has passed." "Der Winter ist vorbei." "Der Winter hat sich gelegt."
Could "The winter is finished" be correct? Duo didn't take it as a correct answer, but I'm sure it makes sense. I geuss it translates more to something like "Der Winter ist klar". But the idea stays the same, right?
Same general idea, but not as accurate. And I don't think "finished" would translate to "klar", but rather "fertig" or "beendet". Did you mean "klar" in the sense of "we are clear of winter"?
I know Duo marked this right, but ...in the real world (for lack of better phrasing...) is this also translatable to "The Winter is over."? Or must the translation/correct English phrasing be "The winter has passed."?
819
Is it normal to used 'vorbei' for a season instead of using the verb 'endet' or adverb (I think?) 'Schluss'?
I think "The winter is through" should be also accepted as an answer. Check the adjective definition of through on the dictionary (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/through).
No. If you want to use "past" (adjective/adverb/noun) instead of "passed" (verb), you must say Winter IS past.
- 1422
I wonder why duolingo is so punishing against misspellings such as "ist" as "is". Sometimes duolingo counts it correct even if there are multiple spelling errors.
