"Jemand ist dir voraus."

Translation: Someone is ahead of you.

[davidyahoo]

why is the dative 'dir' used instead of 'du' ?

[sakasiru]

For the same reason you say "of you" and not just "you": Someone/ jemand is subject of the sentence, while of you/ dir is object.

[davidyahoo]

in this case why is not the direct object 'dich' used?

[sakasiru]

Because of the "voraus". Über dir, hinter dir, unter dir, vor dir, neben dir - all adverbs that describe a place relative to another place (or person) use a dative for the place or person.

[csarkesz]

Why can't one use "vor dir" in this specific case? What is the difference between "vor dir" and "dir voraus"?

[sakasiru]

It is basically the different between "in front of you" and "ahead of you".

[SkaterdRom]

How would you say someone is behind you?

[sakasiru]

"Jemand ist hinter dir."

[newdoc]

Why would someone is before you be wrong?

[MarkBennett6]

It's not wrong. "before" is more often referring to time and "ahead" referring to space, but this is a tendency and not a rule.

[Didi126622]

Why is OF used after AHEAD?

[-Copernicus-]

"Of ahead you" would not make any sense.

[Volmar86]

Should "dir" go in front of voraus? Can it also go after? Like "voraus dir"? Just asking.

[NogoBogo]

So can this be used both in the context of location (someone is ahead of you in a race) and, say, score (someone has more points than you)?

[chetalanel]

Worst feeling of Mario Kart ever

[Zmikh25]

Why is "Somebody is ahead of" accepted?

[mizinamo]

It's a mistake. Should be fixed in the backend now, but may take a little while to reach the public course.

[jringsby]

can someone explain why voraus comes at the end of the sentence

[RobertHJMa]

'Someone is ahead' should be accepted surely?

[WitchDuck]

Why not "There is someone ahead of you." This was marked wrong.

[N.Mai]

Why not just "vor" instead of "voraus"?