posted
I think you just have to remove "gewesen" and you'll have it. I'm not a native speaker, though.
Posts: 896 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
This is correct. THe present tense phrase would simply be "wie es eigentlich ist".
However, "wie es eigentlich gewesen" is a famous quote from the 19th century German historian Leopold Ranke, which is almost always quoted wrongly. Ranke wrote "wie es eigentlich gewesen" without the IST. Now, to English speakers this sounds like a grammatical absurdity, but in written German this can be used for stylistic reasons.
The full sentence in the original text ran as follows: “Man hat der Historie das Amt, die Vergangenheit zu richten, die Mitwelt zum Nutzen zukünftiger Jahre zu belehren, beigemessen: so hoher Ämter unterwindet sich gegenwärtiger Versuch nicht: er will bloß zeigen, wie es eigentlich gewesen.”
Posts: 64 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Thanks everyone. Michiel, Ranke is the reason I wanted to use the phrase.
Though I must admit that like most English speakers I thought the 'ist' should always be in the quote.
Posts: 1762 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
And just to check, would "wie es eigentlich ist" on its own sound awkward to a German speaker?
Posts: 1762 | Registered: Apr 2006
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