Breakdown of Endlich ist er die böse Sucht los.
sein
to be
er
he
böse
mad / mean
endlich
at last
die Sucht
the addiction
los
rid of
Questions & Answers about Endlich ist er die böse Sucht los.
Why is die böse Sucht in the accusative case if the verb is ist (sein)?
Normally, sein takes the nominative case. However, the adjective los (rid of) is special: it directly governs the accusative case. Along with a few others like gewohnt (used to) and wert (worth), it bypasses the need for a preposition and forces the thing you are rid of into the accusative.
Why is the adjective los placed at the very end of the sentence?
In the phrase etwas los sein (to be rid of something), los acts as a predicative adjective. Like a separable prefix, it gets pushed to the end of the main clause, sandwiching the accusative object (die böse Sucht) between the conjugated verb (ist) and itself.
Can I use a preposition like von here, similar to 'rid of' in English?
No. While English uses the preposition 'of', German requires just the plain accusative noun phrase. Adding a preposition like von before die böse Sucht would be grammatically incorrect when using los sein.
I know suchen means 'to search'. Does die Sucht mean you are 'searching' for your addiction?
It looks like it, but no! Die Sucht actually comes from an old Germanic root meaning 'sickness' (related to the English word 'sick'). It is a very common root used for strong compulsions or diseases, which you will also spot in words like Eifersucht (jealousy) and Sehnsucht (longing).
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