Breakdown of Der Rucksack war sehr schwer.
sein
to be
sehr
very
der Rucksack
the backpack
schwer
heavy / severe, serious
Questions & Answers about Der Rucksack war sehr schwer.
Why does this sentence use war instead of the usual two-part past tense?
In spoken German, the past tense is usually formed with a helping verb and a past participle at the end of the sentence. However, the verb sein (to be) is a major exception! It is almost always used in its simple past form, war, just like the English "was".
Can schwer also mean "difficult"?
Yes! schwer can mean either "heavy" or "difficult" depending on the context. Since we are talking about a Rucksack (backpack) here, "heavy" is the natural translation. If you were talking about a math test, schwer would mean "difficult".
Is there a trick to remembering that Rucksack uses der?
Yes! Rucksack is a compound word made of der Rücken (the back) and der Sack (the bag). In German, the very last noun in a compound word always determines the gender. Since Sack is masculine (der), the whole word becomes masculine.
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