Breakdown of Billige Seife ist gefährlich für weiche Haut.
sein
to be
für
for
billig
cheap
gefährlich
dangerous
Questions & Answers about Billige Seife ist gefährlich für weiche Haut.
Why does billige have an -e ending?
Seife (soap) is a feminine noun and it is the subject of the sentence (nominative case). Because there is no article like die or eine in front of it, the adjective has to show the gender and case. It does this by taking the strong ending -e for the feminine nominative.
Why does gefährlich have no ending?
In German, adjectives only get endings when they are placed directly in front of a noun. Because gefährlich comes after the verb ist and just describes the subject, it stays in its basic dictionary form.
Why is it für weiche Haut instead of just für weich Haut?
The preposition für always forces the following noun into the accusative case. Haut (skin) is feminine. Since there is no article in front of it, the adjective weich needs the strong ending for the feminine accusative, which is -e.
Why are the endings for billige and weiche exactly the same, even though one is nominative and the other is accusative?
For feminine nouns in German, the nominative and accusative forms are always exactly the same. The strong adjective ending for a feminine noun is -e in both the nominative (like billige Seife) and the accusative (like weiche Haut).