Breakdown of Der Sommer in der Stadt war die Hölle.
sein
to be
in
in
die Stadt
the city
der Sommer
the summer
Questions & Answers about Der Sommer in der Stadt war die Hölle.
Why does the German sentence use the definite article die before Hölle, whereas English just says "hell"?
In German, specific realms or unique conceptual places like die Hölle (hell) and der Himmel (heaven/sky) require a definite article. If you dropped the article and just said war Hölle, it would sound grammatically incomplete to a native speaker.
Is die Hölle sein a natural metaphorical idiom in German, or just a literal translation from English?
It is a very common, natural German expression. Just like in English, you can use die Hölle to describe a situation that is unbearably hot, crowded, or stressful. A related and very common B2-level phrase is Da war die Hölle los, which means "all hell broke loose" or "it was insanely busy."
Could I change the word order to put the location at the end, like Der Sommer war die Hölle in der Stadt?
You technically can, but it changes the flow of the sentence. In the original version, Der Sommer in der Stadt is treated as one cohesive noun phrase acting as the subject. Moving in der Stadt to the end makes it sound more like an afterthought rather than the specific topic of the sentence.