Breakdown of Du bist krank, ruh dich heute aus!
sein
to be
du
you (informal singular)
heute
today
krank
sick
Questions & Answers about Du bist krank, ruh dich heute aus!
Why is the verb ruh instead of ruhst?
This is the informal command (imperative) form. To tell one person you are on a first-name basis with to do something, you take the du form of the verb (ruhst) and drop the -st ending as well as the pronoun du. So, du ruhst becomes just ruh.
Why is aus at the very end of the sentence?
The German verb for "to rest" is ausruhen. This is a separable verb. Even in a command, the main part of the verb (ruh) takes the first position in the phrase, and the prefix (aus) gets kicked all the way to the end.
Why is the word dich in there?
In German, the verb for "to rest" is reflexive: sich ausruhen (literally "to rest oneself"). Because you are giving a command to someone using the informal du, you must include the matching reflexive pronoun dich. The literal translation is "rest yourself out today!"
Why are these two phrases joined by just a comma?
In German, it is much more common and grammatically acceptable to join two closely related statements with a comma than it is in English. However, you could also write them as two separate sentences: Du bist krank. Ruh dich heute aus!