Word
Es ist ein Wunder, aber er wird überlebt haben.
Meaning
It is a miracle, but he will have survived.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Es ist ein Wunder, aber er wird überlebt haben.
Why do we use wird überlebt haben here instead of just the past tense?
This is the Futur II (Future Perfect). While it translates literally to "will have survived," in German it is very commonly used to express a strong assumption or high probability about something that already happened in the past. It essentially means "I assume he survived" or "He probably survived."
Why is the past participle überlebt and not geüberlebt or übergelebt?
The verb überleben (to survive) has an inseparable prefix (über-). Verbs with inseparable prefixes never add -ge- to form their past participle.
Does the word aber affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, aber is a coordinating conjunction, which means it occupies "position zero" in the clause. The subject er takes position 1, and the conjugated verb wird stays in its normal position 2.
Why does überlebt haben end with haben instead of sein?
Even though surviving might feel like a change of condition (which often triggers sein for past participles), the verb überleben can take a direct object, such as surviving an accident. Verbs that can take a direct object almost always use haben as their helping verb.