Questions & Answers about Der Termin ist jetzt fest.
I thought this lesson was about the stative passive with 'sein' and a past participle. Why is there no past participle in this sentence?
You caught that! While the stative passive uses sein + a past participle (like festgelegt), German often just uses a regular adjective with sein to express a completed state. Here, the adjective fest (firm or fixed) does the same job as a stative passive phrase like ist festgelegt (is set), but in a simpler, everyday way.
Could I use a real stative passive here instead of just the adjective 'fest'?
Yes! You could say Der Termin ist jetzt festgelegt or Der Termin ist jetzt vereinbart. Both of these use the true stative passive structure (sein + past participle) to mean the appointment has been set and is now in that fixed state. Using fest is just a shorter, very common alternative.
Does 'Termin' always mean appointment?
Termin is a very versatile word in German. Besides an appointment (like with a doctor or a business partner), it can also mean a deadline, a date for an event, or a court hearing. It generally refers to any fixed point in time on a schedule.
Why does 'jetzt' come before 'fest' instead of at the end of the sentence?
In German, time adverbs like jetzt (now) usually come as early as possible after the conjugated verb. The adjective fest describes the state of the subject, so it naturally falls to the end of the clause, sitting exactly where a past participle would in a true stative passive sentence.
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