Is my translation correct?

Question

The sentence is:

Is your brother well now?

My answer:

Ist deinem Bruder (Dative) besser jetzt.

Correct answer:

Geht es deinem Bruder jetzt besser.

In my answer I feel now that "deinem Bruder" should be "dein Bruder" if that was to be correct answer. In my opinion this is because there is no subject other than brother and hence brother is the subject.

So updated my answer:

Ist dein Bruder besser jezt?

Another thing: Why do we place "besser" at the last position? Where can we place "jetzt" in a sentence?

Answer 1

There is a subject in that correct German answer:

Geht es deinem Bruder jetzt besser?

That es is the same kind of dummy subject as in the English phrase It is raining. Who is that it? Nothing. It's a dummy required by grammar.

German uses that phrase es geht + ‹Dat› + ‹Adj› specifically for telling the health of ‹Dat›. It's a set phrase. You have to use that one.

Ist dein Bruder besser jetzt?

That is grammatically correct but it doesn't inquire the health of the brother but his conduct. Consider:

Sie ist kalt. — She's a cold-hearted person.

Ihr ist kalt. — She's feeling cold.

This is because the dative object of a sentence tells who has to face the consequences of the action. “It” is cold, and she has to face the consequences. Hence dative, ihr.

While in a coupler phrase as A ist B, the subject A is the one who is assigned the property B. English isn't particularly keen on that difference. German is.

From that example you can also see that German clauses do not strictly require a subject. And there's even a an impersonal passive voice in German that requires the clause not to have a subject.

Another thing: Why do we place "besser" at the last position? Where can we place "jetzt" in a sentence?

That is because the default order of adverbials in German is time-cause-manner-place-direction. Jetzt is a time adverbial and besser is a manner adverbial.

Answer 2

You seem (possibly unconsciously) to try to apply English word-order and partially grammar to German vocabulary. The will seldom work.

In German the verb mandates the respective case:

Mir (dative) geht es heute besser.

as opposed to

Ich (nominative) fühle mich heute besser.

So I'm afraid, that for the intended meaning Geht es deinem Bruder jetzt besser? is the only correct order. While jetzt can be move to the start of the sentence for emphasis, I see no choice for besser, it has to stay at the end.

Answer 3

None of the answers is correct.

Ist deinem Bruder besser jetzt.

is not correct German at all.

Geht es deinem Bruder jetzt besser.

means "is your brother better now" in the sense of "has your brother's health improved".

Ist dein Bruder besser jetzt?

means "is your brother better now" in the sense of "has your brother's skill (in some previously mentioned area) or behaviour improved." (Putting aside the unusual word order: "jetzt" would typically be placed before "besser".)

The correct translation of "Is your brother well now?" is:

Ist dein Bruder wieder gesund?