Questions & Answers about Das Wasser ist nicht immer heiß.
Why is nicht placed before immer instead of at the end of the sentence?
In German, nicht is placed right before the specific word or phrase it is negating. Here, it is negating the phrase immer heiß (always hot). By putting it directly in front, it clearly means "not always". Putting nicht at the very end of this sentence would be incorrect.
What is the strange 'ß' letter in the word heiß?
That letter is called an Eszett or "sharp S". It makes a hissing "ss" sound, so heiß rhymes with the English word "mice". If you do not have the ß key on your keyboard, it is perfectly acceptable to type it as a double 's' (heiss).
How would I change this sentence to say the water is never hot?
Instead of using nicht (not) to negate the sentence, you would replace the phrase nicht immer with the word nie (never). The sentence would simply become: Das Wasser ist nie heiß.
Why does this sentence use das for "the"?
German has three grammatical genders for nouns: masculine (der), feminine (die), and neuter (das). The word for water, Wasser, is a neuter noun, so it takes das. It is always a great habit to memorize the gender along with every new noun you learn!
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