Breakdown of Der Urlaub war wunderschön.
sein
to be
wunderschön
gorgeous
der Urlaub
the vacation / the holiday
Questions & Answers about Der Urlaub war wunderschön.
Why do we use war here instead of ist?
war is the simple past tense of the verb sein (to be) for he, she, or it. Because Der Urlaub is a masculine noun, we use war to mean "was". If the vacation were happening right now, we would use the present tense ist (is).
Does the word wunderschön have two parts?
Yes! It is made by combining Wunder (a miracle or wonder) and schön (beautiful). Putting them together creates a stronger word that means "wonderfully beautiful" or "gorgeous".
Why is there no extra ending on wunderschön?
In German, adjectives only change their endings when they are placed directly in front of a noun. Because wunderschön comes after the verb war and stands alone at the end of the sentence, it stays in its basic dictionary form.
Why is the article Der used for a vacation?
Every noun in German has a grammatical gender, and Urlaub happens to be masculine. Because it is the subject of the sentence (the thing that was wonderful), it uses the masculine subject article Der.
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