Questions & Answers about Der Metzger ist nicht teuer.
Why is it Der Metzger (nominative) instead of den Metzger (accusative) if this lesson is about the accusative case?
This lesson focuses on the phrase es gibt (there is/are), which always requires the accusative case. If you said "There is a butcher," you would use the accusative: Es gibt einen Metzger. However, this sentence uses the verb ist (is). The verb sein (to be) always takes the nominative case for its subject, so the masculine noun remains der Metzger.
Why is nicht placed right before teuer?
When you are negating a specific adjective in a sentence, the word nicht goes directly in front of that adjective. It works just like English here: "not expensive" translates directly to nicht teuer.
Does the adjective teuer need a special ending to match the masculine noun Metzger?
No, it stays exactly as it appears in the dictionary. In German, adjectives only get special grammatical endings when they are placed directly before a noun (for example, der teure Metzger). Because teuer comes after the verb to describe the subject, it doesn't take any ending at all.
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