Breakdown of Gott sei Dank hat er die Prüfung bestanden.
haben
to have
die Prüfung
the exam
bestehen
to pass (exam)
Gott sei Dank
thank goodness
Questions & Answers about Gott sei Dank hat er die Prüfung bestanden.
Why do we use "sei" instead of "ist" in "Gott sei Dank"?
sei is a special form of sein (to be) called Konjunktiv I. In older German, this was used to express a wish or a blessing, so the phrase literally translates to "Thanks be to God." Today, Gott sei Dank is just a fixed idiom you can memorize as a chunk!
Why does the verb "hat" come right after "Dank" instead of after "er"?
The entire phrase Gott sei Dank acts as a single chunk of information taking up position 1 in the sentence. Since German requires the conjugated verb to be in the second position (the V2 rule), the verb hat must come next, pushing the subject er into position 3.
Is "Gott" in a specific case in this phrase?
Yes, Gott is actually in the dative case here! Because the literal meaning is "Thanks be to God," the word for God takes the dative. You can see this more clearly in the similar expression dem Himmel sei Dank (thank heavens), where the dative article dem is visible.
Why doesn't the past participle "bestanden" start with "ge-" like most other past tense verbs?
The verb bestehen (to pass) starts with be-, which is an inseparable prefix. Verbs that start with inseparable prefixes (like be-, ent-, er-, ver-, and zer-) never take a ge- in their past participle form. They just keep their normal prefix.
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