Der Garten ist riesig und der Rasen gehört gemäht.
The garden is huge and the lawn needs to be mowed.
Breakdown of Der Garten ist riesig und der Rasen gehört gemäht.
sein
to be
und
and
der Garten
the garden
riesig
huge
gehören
to need to be (done)
der Rasen
the lawn
mähen
to mow
Questions & Answers about Der Garten ist riesig und der Rasen gehört gemäht.
Why does the sentence use gehört instead of a modal verb like muss?
Using gehören followed by a past participle, like gemäht, is a common alternative to the passive voice with a modal verb. It expresses that something urgently needs or ought to be done. It carries the same meaning as muss gemäht werden, but is shorter and often used in conversational German.
Doesn't gehören usually mean 'to belong to'? How can I tell it means 'needs to be' here?
You can tell by looking at the end of the clause. When gehören means 'to belong to', it typically takes a dative object, like in Das gehört mir. When it is paired directly with a past participle like gemäht, it functions as a passive alternative. This specific usage is very common in everyday speech, especially in Southern Germany and Austria.
If I wanted to rewrite the second half of the sentence using standard passive voice, how would it look?
You would use the modal verb müssen along with the passive auxiliary werden. The second half would be: ... und der Rasen muss gemäht werden. The gehören construction is simply a more colloquial, concise way to express this exact same idea.
What is the exact difference between Garten and Rasen in this context?
Der Garten refers to the entire garden or yard, which might include flowerbeds, trees, and a patio. Der Rasen specifically means the lawn or the cultivated grass. The sentence points out that while the whole yard is huge, it is specifically the grass that requires mowing.
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