Questions & Answers about Die Sonne scheint, es ist sonnig.
Why do we say es ist sonnig instead of just ist sonnig?
In German, just like in English, sentences need a subject. When talking about general weather conditions where there isn't a specific person or thing doing the action, we use the impersonal es (it). So, es ist sonnig works exactly like 'it is sunny'.
The English translation says 'the sun is shining', but doesn't scheint just mean 'shines'?
German doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English '-ing' form for things happening right now. The present tense Die Sonne scheint translates to both 'the sun shines' and 'the sun is shining'. You can tell which one it is based on the context.
Are the words Sonne and sonnig related?
Yes! Sonne is the noun for 'sun', and sonnig is the adjective for 'sunny'. Adding -ig to the end of a noun is a very common way to turn it into an adjective in German, which is exactly like adding '-y' in English.
Why is Sonne capitalized but sonnig is not?
In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in a sentence. Because Sonne (sun) is a noun, it gets a capital letter. Since sonnig (sunny) is an adjective, it is written in lowercase.