"Sie ist ihm voraus."
Translation:She is ahead of him.
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'voraus sein' does that mean to be ahead in line, to be ahead in performance/score? Both?
Here it's more like she is ahead in score or performance. If she is ahead in line, you'd say "sie ist vor ihm". But you can use voraus in a physical relation, too, f.e. "sie geht ihm voraus" but it has the connotation "she leads the way" while "sie geht vor ihm" just means she walks in front of him.
Thanks! another sentence in the section i'm in is "Gehen Sie nur voraus, bitte" (not sure whether the 'nur' is there or in another sentence, but it shouldn't change much). So here it has to be 'ahead in line', right? or is the sentence something that native speakers wouldn't really say?
You can absolutely say that. But to me the sentence means "please lead the way". It may be spoken by someone who normally would go ahead of the other (a female, the older person etc), but who doesn't know the way and so "allows" the other one to go ahead. If the host says it to a guest, he would rather say "gehen Sie nur vor", but in any case combined with a gesture pointing the direction, assuming the guest will find the (easy) way on his/her own. Anyway, to me "voraus" has a connotation of leading, or having an advance; if two people have a race, one can be "voraus", but not if they just happen to walk in the same direction or stand in line without any reason to compete.
"Nur" here can be translated with "just": "Just go ahead, please.", but it's mostly a filler word.
So, what if this hypothetical "she" walks "in front of him," such that he is standing still and she is walking across the floor directly in front of him? How would one express that? "Sie geht entlang vor ihm." maybe?
How would you say that she is ahead of him like, in a race or a marathon?
"Sie ist ihm voraus" (see top of the page). Or "Sie liegt/ist vor ihm".
No, you can't bring "vorne" in relationship to someone.
You can say "sie ist vorne" or "sie ist vor ihm" but NOT "sie ist vorne ihm".
Why could this sentence not be translated as "She is ahead of it"? I thought ihm was both "he" and "it" in the dative case.
vor ihm, hinter ihm, unter ihm, über ihm... Locations are often paired up with dative.
SIe geht hinter ihm=she is walking behind him./ Sie geht vor ihm=she is walking ahead of him. (?)
It's not easy to explain, but maybe this will give you an idea:
"voran" = forward (as in: sth./so. is advancing, making progress, generally moving forward)
"voraus" = ahead (as in: he's walking ahead and we'll follow, being one step ahead, being ahead of the times)
Maybe someone has a better explanation?
So, couldn't this sentence also mean "She is before him," instead of just "She is ahead of him?"
I translated it using the verb "precede" and it was marked wrong; should that be reported or is it really an incorrect translation?
Is voraus a separable prefix here? That is the only explanation in my mind to it being at the end of the sentence.
No prefix, the words are separated ("jmdm./etw. voraus sein" = "to be ahead of s.o./sth."). It's just a combination of adverb + verb, so you can probably use the grammar rules for that...
Well, that implies that he already lost the race. But "voraus" just means that she is ahead at the moment, he still could catch up.
No. It simply doesn't make sense in German. "she eats before him" is "sie isst vor ihm".
"She is before him". This is good English if one is describing positions in a queue. It ought to be accepted.
Did anyone notice that confusing part in which: "before" means "back" when it refers to time, but "ahead" when it refers to standing in line?...
No. The meaning is different. "beyond" means "on the other side" (i.e. depending on my point of view). That is "jenseits" in German.
"voraus" is "ahead".
