Question for German speakers

[ysobel]

This has been bugging me for a while:

"Das Objekt, aufgefunden in den Keller gewurden der Oper, funktioniert noch"

Why is gewurden smack in the middle of den Keller der Oper? (It feels wrong to me -- why isn't gewurden last?

...or oh oh oh is gewurden part of the noun phrase? I was thinking it was part of the verb phrase (aufgefunden gewurden) but if it's the noun phrase -- is that, like, "the cellar that used to be (but isn't any more) part of the opera house ?

Hilfe bitte! (Is there a German equivalent of halp? Halfe? Lol)

Comments

[franzi1981]

This sentence is wrong, grammatically.

It should be either:

"Das Objekt, aufgefunden im Keller der Oper,
funktioniert noch" - this is grammatically right, but no one would naturally speak like that.

Or:

Das Objekt, welches im Keller der Oper aufgefunden wurde, funktioniert noch"

Also, it's geworden, not gewurden.

[ysobel]

Thanks -- it's reassuring that my instincts weren't totally off :) My German is still super rusty, but like I said, it bugged me.

Also, it's geworden, not gewurden.

...which is one of my rust bits, whoops. Though I swear it sounds like gewurden. Or possibly gewürden, and I'm a little embarrassed that I can't tell the difference, but it doesn't sound like an o...

(This is the German -- possibly Austrian cast, I don't remember, but definitely German language -- recording of Phantom of the Opera. The English equivalent is "This item, discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order." What gets me is that this bit is spoken, not sung, so it's not like it had to fit the music...)

[franzi1981]

Yeah, it sounds like gewurden, which is why many native speakers also can't spell it ;)

Huh, that's weird. If it were something ancient, I'd blame it on that. But Phantom of the Opera is not nearly old enough for that. Weird.

[fleurrochard]

That IS weird, and I googled it, and apparently the German text actually is:
"Das Objekt, aufgefunden in den Kellergewölben der Oper, funktioniert noch einwandfrei".
"Kellergewölbe" = vaulted cellar
Which makes way more sense. *g*
(But I can see how that could sound kinda similar!)