Breakdown of Das Wetter war gestern furchtbar.
sein
to be
das Wetter
the weather
gestern
yesterday
furchtbar
dreadful
Questions & Answers about Das Wetter war gestern furchtbar.
The current lesson is about adding -bar to verbs to mean able to be done, but is furchtbar an example of this?
Not exactly! While furchtbar ends in -bar, it doesn't come from a verb stem to show passive possibility like lesbar (readable) does. Instead, it comes from the noun die Furcht (fear). It simply means terrible or dreadful. It is an older word where the suffix worked a bit differently than the passive possibility rule you are learning now.
Why doesn't furchtbar have an adjective ending here, like furchtbares?
Because it is used here as a predicate adjective, meaning it describes the subject after a linking verb like war (was). In German, adjectives only take endings when they are placed directly in front of a noun, such as if you were to say ein furchtbares Wetter (a terrible weather).
Why is the time word gestern placed before the adjective furchtbar?
In German, time adverbs like gestern (yesterday) generally appear early in the sentence, often right after the conjugated verb. This naturally pushes states or descriptions like furchtbar to the very end of the clause.
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