Breakdown of Das Zimmer ist hell, aber es ist nicht sicher.
sein
to be
es
it
aber
but
nicht
not
das Zimmer
the room
hell
bright
sicher
sure / certain
Questions & Answers about Das Zimmer ist hell, aber es ist nicht sicher.
Why doesn't the verb ist come right after aber?
In German, the verb usually wants to be in the second position of a sentence. However, coordinating conjunctions like aber (but), und (and), and oder (or) take up 'Position 0'. They do not count towards the word order! So in the second part of the sentence, es is in position 1, and the verb ist safely lands in position 2.
Why do we use es for 'it' in the second half of the sentence?
Pronouns in German have to match the gender of the noun they are replacing. Because the word for room is neuter (das Zimmer), we must use the neuter pronoun es to say 'it'. If we were talking about a feminine noun like die Tür (the door), we would use sie for 'it'.
Do I always need to put a comma before aber?
Yes, when aber connects two complete clauses like it does here, you must use a comma. Each half of this sentence has its own subject (Das Zimmer, es) and its own verb (ist), so a comma is required to separate them.
Why are the adjectives just hell and sicher without any special endings?
When adjectives come after a verb like ist to describe the subject, they do not get any extra endings. You only add endings to an adjective when it is placed directly in front of a noun, such as in ein helles Zimmer (a bright room).
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