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Is there a more direct translation of "it is your turn"?

I have used "du bist dran" for card games and the like, but is that a good translation in general? For example how would you translate "it is your turn to do the dishes"?

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Du bist dran.

Yes, that's a good translation for a colloquial sentence (the expression dran sein is colloquial for an der Reihe sein).

Your example sentence:

Du bist dran Geschirr zu spülen.

Alternatively:

  • Du bist an der Reihe
  • Du kommst dran

Du bist an der Reihe Geschirr zu spülen.

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    +1 good answer. In german you shouldn't forget the honorific version: "Sie sind dran" or "Sie sind dran Geschirr zu spülen". Even though it doesn't makes much sense in this example. – Markus Schwalbe May 30 '11 at 13:54
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Für mich ist das die korrekte Übersetzung. Deinen Beispielsatz würde ich folgendermaßen übersetzen:

Du bist dran mit Geschirr spülen.

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    Wird hier "Geschirr spülen" nicht zusammengesetzt als Hauptwort geschrieben, da es mit einer Präposition verwendet wird: "mit [dem] Geschirrspülen"? – splattne May 29 '11 at 15:28
  • @splattne das ist so eine gebräuchliche umgangssprachliche Formulierung in D, aber grammatikalisch nicht wirklich korrekt – Pekka May 29 '11 at 15:31
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    Oder auch "Du bist mit Geschirrspülen dran." – ladybug May 29 '11 at 20:00
  • @Pekka: Wär's ohne Leerzeichen vor "spülen" nicht korrekt? – Hendrik Vogt Jun 5 '11 at 20:15
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"Du bist dran" is the best translation in the sense that it covers most cases of "it is your turn".

More close translation would be:

"Du bist am Zug." or "Dein Zug."

but this would not be appropriate for dish-washing. This would apply to games where you actually move something during the turn (think chess) and to situations where the phrase includes a challenge e.g. in a discussion you demolish all arguments of your opponent and then add "now it is your turn".

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    I would translate "Du bist am Zug" with "(It's) your move!" It does indeed have a strong game connotation and will hardly be used outside of that context. – Oliver Giesen Jun 11 '11 at 21:46
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As swegi has pointed out already, Du bist dran is perfectly fine, both for games and in general. "It's your turn to..." can be usually translated as "Du bist dran mit..." (+ dative). If you are looking for alternatives, there's always Du bist an der Reihe.

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Yes.

As regards washing the dishes, I would say:

Du bist mit dem Geschirrspülen dran.

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