Questions & Answers about Es schneit nicht, aber es ist kühl.
Why do we use es in es schneit?
Just like in English ("it is snowing"), German requires a subject for weather verbs. Because there isn't a specific person, animal, or thing doing the snowing, we use the impersonal pronoun es (it).
The English translation says "is not snowing", but the German sentence just has schneit. Where is the "is"?
German doesn't have an "-ing" form (continuous tense) like English does. The single verb schneit can mean both "snows" and "is snowing". You never use a form of "to be" with another verb to say what is happening right now in German.
Why is nicht placed after the verb?
When you want to negate the main action of a simple sentence, the word nicht (not) usually goes after the verb. You are literally saying "It snows not."
We use es again in the second half (es ist kühl). Is this the same rule?
Yes! We also use the impersonal es to describe general conditions or temperatures. Just like in English, you use es ist (it is) followed by the describing word (kühl means cool).
Does the word aber change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, aber (but) is a connecting word that simply links two regular sentences together. The second part, es ist kühl, keeps the standard subject-verb word order, just as if it were a standalone sentence.
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