Breakdown of Im Vergleich zu gestern ist es heute warm.
sein
to be
es
it
heute
today
warm
warm
gestern
yesterday
im Vergleich zu
compared to
Questions & Answers about Im Vergleich zu gestern ist es heute warm.
Why do we use im instead of just in before Vergleich?
Im is a contraction of in dem. The noun Vergleich (comparison) is masculine, and the preposition in takes the dative case here to form the fixed phrase im Vergleich (in comparison).
Why does the verb ist come right after gestern, before the subject es?
German uses V2 word order, meaning the conjugated verb must be in the second position of the main clause. The entire phrase Im Vergleich zu gestern (compared to yesterday) counts as position one. Therefore, the verb ist takes position two, pushing the subject es to position three.
Why do we use zu in the phrase im Vergleich zu?
In German, the noun Vergleich specifically pairs with the preposition zu (which always triggers the dative case) to express a comparison. It is a fixed noun-preposition combination that is best memorized as a single chunk of vocabulary.
Is there another common way to say 'compared to' in German?
Yes! As you build your vocabulary, you will also hear verglichen mit (literally: compared with). You could rewrite this sentence as Verglichen mit gestern ist es heute warm. Both expressions are completely natural.
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