Questions & Answers about Das Baby sitzt im Sessel. Er ist sehr bequem.
Why do we use sitzt instead of setzt in this sentence?
sitzen means 'to be sitting' (describing a location or state), while setzen means 'to sit down' or 'to place' (describing a movement or action). Because the baby is already resting in the armchair, we use the location verb sitzt.
Why is it im Sessel rather than in den Sessel?
in is a two-way preposition. Because sitzen describes a fixed location (answering the question 'where?'), the preposition takes the dative case. im is short for in dem (dative). If the baby were actively sitting down into the chair, we would use the action verb sich setzen and the accusative case in den Sessel.
The translation says 'It is very comfortable,' but the German sentence uses Er. Why?
In German, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. The word for armchair is masculine (der Sessel). Because of this, you have to use the masculine pronoun er to say 'it', rather than the neuter pronoun es.
Why doesn't the adjective bequem have an ending like bequemer?
When an adjective comes after the verb sein (to be) and describes the subject, it does not take an ending. You only add an adjective ending when the adjective comes directly before a noun, such as ein bequemer Sessel (a comfortable armchair).