"To be or not to be, that is the question."
Translation:Sein oder nicht sein, das ist hier die Frage.
26 Comments
As an English speaker, I don't understand why hier is necessary in this case. Would the sentence be incorrect without it?
This is a line from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. The German translation uses this wording. The context of the scene must have made it sound better that way.
Duolingo also accepts the translation without it.
It accepted my answer of "Sein oder nicht sein, das ist die Frage." (April 1, 2019)
Today is May 9, 2019. Duolingo requires the addition of the word "hier", even though it should not for literal translations. Very frustrating.
476
"The" German translation? There is only one? The one and only? :) (I do not mean to be mean: I was just really surprised, as in Czech most of Shakespeare's plays have been translated five times at the least.) Anyway, Duo is teching us basic German (oder?), namely modal verbs here, so it should accept wider range of attempted translation, even if they do not measure up to the standards of poetic translation. :)
- 226
I'm guessing here, but I assume it's put in to keep the metre (pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables). The original is 11 syllables (iambic pentameter with a weak extra syllable at the end). Without the hier, it would only be 10 syllables in German. https://www.quora.com/If-a-poem-is-11-syllables-for-the-first-line-but-ten-for-every-other-line-does-it-have-a-metre
Shakespeare used metre, as in he wanted every line to have the right amount of week and strong syllables. So I'm guessing to keep the metre nice and balanced another word was stuck in here
Good question! I was wondering the same thing. I think you could use both but the structure would change. "Sein oder nicht sein, dass hier die Frage ist" That's because "dass" creates a subordinate clause and the verb in those clauses has to go to the end. It's just my guess though.
- 1480
We use "das" because it's a pronoun referring back to "Sein oder nicht sein" rather than, as you said, starting a subordinate clause.
"Sein oder nicht sein, dass hier die Frage ist" doesn't make any sense. (That would make "die Frage" the subject of the subordinate clause and translate to something nonsensical like "To be or not to be that the question is here.") We need "das" in this sentence.
- 476
Because there are (at least) two "that"s in English. (1) One is basicaly a pronoun (even though it can be used as a conjunction) that indicates (or refers) an object, is contrasted to "this", and in German has a gender (so it translates to der, die or das). (Oh, that question! That is the one question that has been troubling us for centuries!) (2) The other is a conjunction, often omitted, used to introduce a subclause conveying the informational content of something mentioned in the main clause. (She announced / you are telling us / the book claims / the answer is / they have sent a message / a proof has been found / I doubt . . . , THAT all evil is bad.) Or, imagine using both in one sentence: "They say that (=1, and it would be usually omitted) that (=2, i.e. not this, but that) horse is good." DE: "Sie sagen, dass (1) das (2) Pferd [da] gut ist."
- 207
Can anyone tell me why this is not a subordinate clause using 'dass' ...dass die Frage ist
- 1629
I would think that "to be or not to be [sein oder nicht sein]" is the dependent clause. "That is the question" could be a complete, stand-alone sentence.
- 1341
Wouldn't "Sein, oder nicht sein, dass ist die Frage." be a better translation? • There is no "hier" in the English sentence.
I am curious as to whether 'nicht' might come after 'sein' ('sein oder sein nicht') since 'nicht' often follows what it negates.
hier ist nicht zu sehen und weshalb darf ich hier zu uebersetzen? Danke moderator Deutsch
