"Und was ist mit der Schweiz?"
Translation:And what about Switzerland?
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How does this sentence mean this? we've had so many examples where "Was ist mit. . ." is translated as "What is with. . ." or What is wrong with. . ." but here it means "What about. . .?" In English that is quite different. Have I misunderstood it before?
Generally, "Was ist mit...?" only means "What's wrong with...?" (in addition to "What about...?) when talking about people. It's meant to show compassion and it's never confrontational. Depending on the context, "What's bothering you?" or "What's ailing you?" might be a less ambiguous translation of "Was ist mit dir?".
What's bothering...?/What's ailing...?/What's wrong with...?
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Was ist mit dir? - Ich habe mich am Knie verletzt.
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Was ist mit Peter? Der sieht ja ganz betrübt aus - Seine Freundin hat ihn verlassen.
How about...?/What about...?
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Wir wollen heute Abend in die Stadt fahren. Was ist mit dir? - Ich komme mit.
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Deutschland ist ein wichtiger Handelspartner der USA. Was ist mit der Schweiz?
why is " what's wrong with Switzerland" wrong? like when you're deciding where to go for the holidays and you suggest Switzerland and your friend doesn't accept.
so you ask : what's wrong with Switzerland?
Good point - if the German sentence can be used like this. Up to now it seems only to have been used in the sense of "what is the matter with. . ." or "what's up with . . .". I'd be interested to know. And I agree with Cranky45 that it would be good to have a clearer explanation of how these idiomatic phrases work before having to translate them!
I'm practising again - and here it is again! "What is wrong with . . ." and "What about . . ." are two different questions in English. Which one is meant by "Was ist mit. . ."?
Judging by Christian's answer, it depends on the context.
Translating from language to language is just not what a mathematician would call "one to one and onto."
I put 'And what is with Switzerland?' and it was marked wrong? The site insisted I must say 'And what is up with Switzerland?' Why?
because Schweiz is always used with an article. There's an explanation here: http://blogs.transparent.com/german/german-language-in-use-i-live-in-and-i-go-to-using-the-appropriate-articles-and-prepositions-with-german-country-names/ and a few examples here: http://german.about.com/od/grammar/a/Gender-Of-Countries.htm and here: http://speakinggerman.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/in-the-big-wide-world/
A few that they seem to have forgotten are "der Niger" (used only sometimes) and "die Ukraine"
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I put "And what is with the swiss" because of the "der" (obviously "And what is with the switzerland" makes no sense) it would be nice if duo actually taught us this kind of stuff before basically forcing us to get things wrong and go to other websites. Thanks for the link.
It's short for "die Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft." the Swiss Confederation. So it's like "the USA" -- the United States of America. (Here, it's dative feminine, so der Schweiz.)
It IS dative case. Schweiz is female (nominative = die Schweiz) so dative is "der Schweiz".
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This has been "what is the matter" in so many previous lessons. I remember this vividly, because 1) I kept getting it wrong, 2) I would never say "the matter", and 3) even the dumbest English speakers where I live dont say this. Now this isnt even the answer. I'm not learning anything anymore. I just have to guess which revolving door of prepositions, I have to try, because Duo wont stick to a meaning.
See the answer by christian in reply to FisherLiz, currently right at the top of this comment page.
simply because that is not a German sentence at all, for several reasons (you can't always translate sentences by translating single words for themselves!): first of all it needs to be "die Schweiz" (in German Switzerland needs an article), then the middle word you think of is spelled "worüber", but this is not a translation of "what about X". The idiomatic correct translation is "was ist mit X". "worüber" can't be used in this construction, it is a translation for "about what" or "over what", not of "what about".
Yeah, what is it with Switzerland, anyway? joke, I love Switzerland Actually I've never been there
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Apparently people have been trying report 'and what is with Switzerland?' since at least 2018. But how would one say 'and what is with Switzerland?' in German if not 'Und was ist mit der Schweiz?' The phrase 'what is with NOUN' is common in American English, though Switzerland would probably only be the noun during the Olympics or a European vacation. If word for word translation of the phrase is not correct, what is the proper way to say it?