Breakdown of Die Sonne scheint über der Stadt.
die Stadt
the city
die Sonne
the sun
scheinen
to shine
über
over, above
Questions & Answers about Die Sonne scheint über der Stadt.
Why does it say der Stadt? Isn't 'city' a feminine word?
Yes, die Stadt is feminine. But here it comes after the two-way preposition über. Because the sun is shining in a fixed location over the city (answering 'where?' or wo?), we must use the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine die changes to der.
Does the preposition über always trigger the dative case?
Not always! über is a two-way preposition. It takes the dative case here because it describes a static location. If a sentence described movement across the city to a new destination (answering 'where to?'), über would take the accusative case instead.
Why is scheint translated as 'is shining' instead of just 'shines'?
German does not have a continuous tense (the '-ing' form) like English does. The single verb scheint can mean both 'shines' and 'is shining'. You just choose whichever makes the most sense for the English translation.
Are Sonne and Stadt capitalized for a special reason?
Yes! In German, every single noun is capitalized, regardless of where it appears in the sentence. Since Sonne (sun) and Stadt (city) are both nouns, they start with capital letters.
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