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Questions & Answers about De storm is voorbij.
Does voorbij only mean "over" in a time sense?
No, it is heavily used as a spatial adverb meaning "past" or "beyond." For example, hij loopt het huis voorbij means he walks past the house. In this sentence, it is used in a temporal sense: the storm has physically passed by and is therefore over.
Could I use afgelopen instead of voorbij here?
Yes, De storm is afgelopen is grammatically correct and means the same thing. However, voorbij is especially natural for weather, because it paints a picture of a physical storm system moving past your location.
How does the word order work if the storm is passing by a specific place?
When used to show motion past a specific location, voorbij often acts as a postposition, meaning it comes right after the noun. For example: De storm trekt de stad voorbij (The storm passes by the city).