Breakdown of Die Musik ist schön, aber das Radio ist alt.
sein
to be
schön
beautiful
aber
but
alt
old
die Musik
the music
das Radio
the radio
Questions & Answers about Die Musik ist schön, aber das Radio ist alt.
Why is it schön and alt instead of schöne or altes?
In German, adjectives only get special endings when they come directly before a noun. When an adjective comes after the verb to describe the noun (like here with ist schön and ist alt), it stays in its basic, unchanged dictionary form.
Does the word aber (but) change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No. The word aber is a coordinating conjunction, which means it simply connects two normal sentences. It takes 'position zero', so the subject (das Radio) is position 1, and the verb (ist) stays safely in its normal second position.
Why are Musik and Radio capitalized, but not schön or alt?
In German, every single noun is capitalized, no matter where it appears in the sentence. Musik and Radio are nouns (things), so they get capital letters. Words like schön and alt are adjectives (describing words), so they stay lowercase.
How do I know to use die for Musik and das for Radio?
Noun genders must be memorized as you learn new vocabulary. Musik is feminine (die), and Radio is neuter (das). A helpful pattern to remember is that many nouns borrowed from other languages or ending in -o (like das Auto and das Kino) are neuter.
Learn Die Musik ist schön, aber das Radio ist alt and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free