"Europa steht dir offen."

Translation: Europe is open to you.

[Martoiu]

Do you mean 'oyster' instead of 'oyester'?

[wataya]

Seems like you commented the wrong sentence, mate.

[Martoiu]

They translated it in my answer as "Europe is your oyester."

[Soglio]

"Europe is your oyster" is an idiom in English, often attributed to William Shakespeare. In this context, it basically means that Europe is open to you, that you may gather the treasure (the pearl).

[wataya]

@Soglio: thanks a lot! Didn't know about that. So, at least it makes sense. But still, I don't think it's a valid translation of the German phrase.

[christian]

That's why London's public transport ticket is called "Oyster card".

[Soglio]

I like it. From now on, when called upon to give advice for living (not that that happens often), I believe I will nod sagely and say "When your eyes are like apples, the world is your oyster."

Parents will probably prefer it to other suggestions that I might give their offspring.

[Soglio]

It's not used much in English, either, except in overblown prose. I should add that the original is "The world is your oyster."

[john.newbe]

The joke version in current English is "The world is your lobster "

[Soglio]

Actually, I realize I didn't explain that very well--I should have translated the metaphor a little further. If someone says, "When you are young and have a little money (and no responsibilities), the world is your oyster," s/he means that the world is there for you to experience and enjoy, and that you should do it. (It doesn't mean that you should steal the treasure, just that you should enjoy it. I just thought I should make that clear. ;-)

I can imagine the Duolingo English sentence being used as a headline in an advertisement for tourism. Anywhere else (and probably also there) I'd consider it to be pompous and fatuous. So in that sense--it's not a good translation of the German phrase. It's not even good writing in English.

[Hohenems]

@ Sogilo

"When your eyes are like apples, the world is your oyster."

[sgedwards90]

Does the phrase "stehen offen" mean that something is actually open, or that it is available?

Would you say "Die Tür steht offen" (the door is open) or the "Die Tür ist offen"? Likewise, would you say "Die Geschäft steht offen" (the shop is open)?

[wataya]

The correct word order is "offen stehen". For a door, you can use both "Die Tür steht offen" and "Die Tür ist offen" interchangeably. The construction with 'stehen' often (but not always) has a connotation of gaping while the 'sein' variant is completely neutral. For doors, gates, and the like you can savely treat them as synonymes.

The expression "Etwas steht jdm. offen" is often used figuratively, the idea being that there is an open door one just has to walk through to attain something.

In the case of the shop I'd rather say "Das Geschäft hat geöffnet". Colloquially and in some German dialects you may hear 'das Geschäft ist offen' but it doesn't sound very elegant to my ears.

[sgedwards90]

Ahh okay, then I think "offnen stehen" might be better translated in English as "wide open". In this case, Europe is wide open to you (anything is possible).

Thanks for the clarification, and the heads-up on the sentence construction for the shop example. ;)

[Vooheese]

So, sein and stehen is interchangeable in the most of the cases? The difference is the emotional reason inside more or less. Can I start to use sein for all the cases? I think as the time going, i may understand more about the differences.

[Psalm_27-1]

Why does the hint for "steht dir offen" say "fits you well"? Is that a common idiom in German?

[Multitaal]

The hint is for steht dir which means suits you/looks good on you.
Adding offen does not make sense with this meaning, so it has to be: stands open to you.

[iwc2ufan]

Yes, I keep getting this wrong due to the hint not being accepted. It would also be extremely nice if commenting during a timed lesson paused the time. I know people could use it to go look up an answer or something, but mainly it just stops me commenting on problems. I have seen this one enough times though that I have decided to lose time commenting anyway (and obviously come back to edit it once the speed drill was over, since it would have used up all of my time).

[minhtriet_]

Duo marks it wrong

[tomerisrael]

Steht dir offen = Idiom that means that something is open to you? It always come with Dativ? I can say: "Meine Haueser stehen Ihnen offen"?

[sciencecw]

The grammar of this sentence baffles me. Can anyone provide more examples? Can dative object be used with stehen and an adjective other than "offen"?

[JohnWolfe4]

One of the answers for "steht dir offen" is "suits you". So, I answered as such, "Europe suits you" and it was marked incorrect. Where I am from, I don't recall something "...being open to you..." used in routine conversation.

[RayGoebel]

what about translating it as "Europe is yours" ?

[Domleschg]

Nope. If someone says "Europe is open to you," it does not mean that Europe now belongs to you. You may enter. You may not start rearranging the furniture and spoiling the rugs.

[RayGoebel]

But ... It has the same implied meaning as "Europe is your oyster".

[FosterDeutsch]

One of the given answers in the pop-up bubble is "Europe suits you" but when I enter it, it gets a negative mark.