Breakdown of Wir wandern in das Tal, da ist es wärmer.
sein
to be
es
it
in
in
wir
we
warm
warm
wandern
to hike
da
there
das Tal
the valley
Questions & Answers about Wir wandern in das Tal, da ist es wärmer.
Why does warm change to wärmer with an umlaut?
In German, many short, common adjectives with the vowels a, o, or u get an umlaut in their comparative form. So warm (warm) gets an umlaut to become wärmer (warmer). Other examples from this lesson include alt becoming älter and groß becoming größer.
Why do we use in das Tal instead of in dem Tal?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. Because we are moving towards a destination (hiking into the valley), it takes the accusative case. Since Tal is a neuter noun, it stays das Tal. If we were already walking around inside the valley, we would use the dative case: in dem Tal.
Why does the second part say da ist es instead of da es ist?
In German main clauses, the verb must always take the second position. Because the word da (there) takes up the first position, the verb ist comes second, pushing the subject es right after it.
Could I say dort ist es wärmer instead of da ist es wärmer?
Yes! Both da and dort can mean "there". Dort usually points to a more specific or farther away place, while da is a bit more general and very common in everyday speech. Both work perfectly for this sentence.
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