Questions & Answers about Die steile Treppe fängt hier an.
Why does the adjective steil have an -e at the end in die steile Treppe?
The noun Treppe is feminine and is the subject of the sentence (nominative case). When an adjective comes after a definite article like die, der, or das in the nominative case, it takes an -e ending.
The English translation says stairs (plural), but the German sentence uses die Treppe. Is it singular or plural?
In German, die Treppe is singular and refers to a single staircase or flight of stairs. English usually uses the plural stairs for this. Because it is singular in German, the verb fängt is also in the singular form.
Why is the word an at the very end of the sentence?
This is because of the separable verb anfangen, which means to begin or to start. In a standard German main clause, the conjugated part of the verb (fängt) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (an) is pushed to the very end of the sentence.
The infinitive of the verb is anfangen, so why does the spelling change to fängt here?
anfangen is a strong (irregular) verb. When conjugated for the third-person singular (he, she, or it), the vowel a changes to an a-umlaut (ä), making it fängt an. Since die Treppe counts as she or it, we use this form.
Learn Die steile Treppe fängt hier an and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free