Breakdown of Der Veranstaltungsort muss vollständig vorbereitet sein.
sein
to be
müssen
to have to, must
vorbereiten
to prepare
vollständig
completely (entirely, with nothing missing)
der Veranstaltungsort
the venue
Questions & Answers about Der Veranstaltungsort muss vollständig vorbereitet sein.
Why do we use sein at the end of this sentence instead of werden?
This sentence uses the state passive, which describes the resulting state of an action rather than the action itself. If we used werden (muss ... vorbereitet werden), it would mean the action of preparing needs to happen right now as a process. By using the past participle vorbereitet with the infinitive sein, we are saying the venue must already be in a completed state of readiness.
Why is the past participle vorbereitet and not vorgebereitet?
Vorbereiten is a separable verb, made of vor + bereiten. Usually, separable verbs get a -ge- between the prefix and the stem. However, the stem bereiten already starts with the inseparable prefix be-. Verbs with inseparable prefixes never take a -ge- in their past participle. So, it simply stays vorbereitet.
What is the -s- doing in the middle of Veranstaltungsort?
It is a connecting sound. When combining nouns to make a compound word, in this case die Veranstaltung (the event) and der Ort (the location), German often inserts an -s- to make the word easier to pronounce. This happens very frequently when the first word ends in -ung, -heit, -keit, or -ion.
Why doesn't the word vollständig have a declension ending?
In this sentence, vollständig acts as an adverb modifying the participle vorbereitet (meaning completely prepared). In German, adjectives only take declension endings when they come directly before a noun. When used as adverbs to describe a verb or adjective, they stay in their base form.
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