Breakdown of Ein Krokodil schwimmt so gut wie ein Fisch.
ein
a, an (eine)
gut
good / well
schwimmen
to swim
der Fisch
the fish
so
so, such (intensifier)
wie
as (in comparisons)
das Krokodil
the crocodile
Questions & Answers about Ein Krokodil schwimmt so gut wie ein Fisch.
Why do we use so ... wie here instead of als?
We use so [adjective/adverb] wie when two things are equal, which translates to "as ... as". Because the crocodile and the fish swim equally well, we use so gut wie. If one swam better than the other, we would use the comparative form and als (than), like besser als (better than).
Why does the German sentence use gut ("good") instead of a word for "well"?
In English, "good" describes a noun and "well" describes an action. In German, these are usually the exact same word! Gut means both "good" and "well", so here it perfectly describes the action of how the crocodile swims.
Why is it ein Fisch (nominative) and not einen Fisch (accusative)?
When comparing two things with wie, the second noun takes the same grammatical case as the noun it is being compared to. Because the crocodile (ein Krokodil) is the subject of the sentence (nominative case), the fish (ein Fisch) must also be in the nominative case. You can imagine the invisible rest of the sentence: "...as well as a fish (swims)."
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