Breakdown of Es blieb rätselhaft, wie das Design gestohlen wurde.
es
it
wie
how
bleiben
to stay
stehlen
to steal
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
das Design
the design
rätselhaft
mysterious (puzzling, enigmatic)
Questions & Answers about Es blieb rätselhaft, wie das Design gestohlen wurde.
How does the suffix -haft work to create the word rätselhaft?
The suffix -haft is added to nouns or verb stems to create adjectives meaning "having the quality of" or "resembling" the root word. Here, it attaches to the noun das Rätsel (the riddle or mystery). Therefore, rätselhaft translates to "riddle-like" or "mysterious".
Could I use the suffix -mäßig instead and say rätselmäßig?
No, rätselmäßig wouldn't work naturally here. While both suffixes create adjectives, -haft describes an inherent quality or character (being mysterious by nature). The suffix -mäßig usually means "in terms of," "on the level of," or "in the manner of" (like routinemäßig for "standard" or "by routine"). They usually aren't interchangeable.
Why is the verb order gestohlen wurde rather than wurde gestohlen?
The word wie (how) introduces a subordinate clause acting as an indirect question. In German subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb is always pushed to the very end. Since this is a passive construction, the conjugated helper verb wurde must come after the past participle gestohlen.
Is gestohlen wurde the simple past or present perfect passive?
It is the simple past (Präteritum) passive. It uses the simple past form of werden (which is wurde) along with the past participle gestohlen. If it were the present perfect passive, it would be gestohlen worden ist. The simple past passive is strongly preferred in written German and narration.
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