Breakdown of Der Regen soll heute Nachmittag aufhören.
heute
today
der Regen
the rain
sollen
should / ought to
der Nachmittag
the afternoon
aufhören
to stop (doing something)
Questions & Answers about Der Regen soll heute Nachmittag aufhören.
Why does soll translate to 'is supposed to' instead of 'should' here?
The modal verb sollen is often used to give advice ('should'), but it is also used to express an expectation, a plan, or something you heard from a forecast. Because a weather report predicted the rain will stop, 'is supposed to' is the most natural English translation for soll in this context.
Isn't aufhören a separable verb? Why isn't it split up here?
You are right, aufhören (to stop) is a separable verb! Normally, you would split it, like in Der Regen hört auf (The rain stops). However, because the modal verb soll is doing the heavy lifting in position two, it pushes the main verb to the very end of the sentence in its full, unseparated dictionary form (infinitive).
Why is there no word for 'this' in heute Nachmittag?
To say 'this afternoon' or 'this morning', German simply combines heute (today) with the time of day. So heute Nachmittag literally means 'today afternoon'. You do not need a direct translation for the word 'this' or any extra prepositions.
What happens to the sentence structure if I want to just say 'The rain stops this afternoon' without 'is supposed to'?
If you remove the modal verb soll, aufhören becomes the active verb in position two, which means its prefix separates and goes to the very end. The sentence would become: Der Regen hört heute Nachmittag auf.
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