Word
Der Urlaub ist leider teuer.
Meaning
The vacation is unfortunately expensive.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der Urlaub ist leider teuer.
sein
to be
teuer
expensive
leider
unfortunately
der Urlaub
the vacation / the holiday
Questions & Answers about Der Urlaub ist leider teuer.
In English, we usually put "unfortunately" at the beginning. Why is leider in the middle here?
In German, adverbs like leider (unfortunately) often come right after the verb. You could put it at the beginning for emphasis, but remember that the verb must stay in the second position: Leider ist der Urlaub teuer.
Why doesn't the adjective teuer have an ending like -e or -er here?
Adjectives only get special endings in German when they sit directly in front of the noun they describe (like in ein teurer Urlaub). Because teuer comes after the verb to describe the noun later in the sentence, it stays in its basic dictionary form.
Can I put the adverb before the verb and say Der Urlaub leider ist teuer?
No, because German strictly follows the "verb second" rule in standard statements. The conjugated verb ist must be the second core piece of information. Putting leider between the subject (der Urlaub) and the verb would incorrectly push the verb into the third position.
Does Urlaub mean "vacation" or "holiday"?
Der Urlaub specifically means a vacation, trip, or your allotted time off work. If you mean a public holiday like Christmas or New Year's Day, you would use a different word: der Feiertag.