Ich befürchte, es ist etwas Schlimmes passiert.

gonk

Sorry could not type Chinese in the office. I have a grammatic question regarding the following (from Langenscheidt)

Ich befürchte, es ist etwas Schlimmes passiert.

In English it was translated as "I fear that something terrible has happened". In this case, why should it be "es"? I thought it was always "dass" that leads clauses. Could anyone explain why is "es" instead of "dass" used here? Thanks!

贝壳

"Ich befürchte, es ist etwas Schlimmes passiert." this sentence is used frequently in oral German.

It can be said in this way: Ich befürchte, dass etwas Schlimmes passiert ist. Here, "dass" is used as conjunction.

xfyy07

LS正解

gonk

原帖由 贝壳 于 2007-6-27 17:13 发表
"Ich befürchte, es ist etwas Schlimmes passiert." this sentence is used frequently in oral German.

It can be said in this way: Ich befürchte, dass etwas Schlimmes passiert ist. Here, "dass"  ...

Thanks. Do you mean "es" is only used in oral German in this situation, otherwise in formal German, "dass" is used? If I don't want to make mistakes, should I just use "dass"? $送花$ $送花$ $送花$