Breakdown of Es ist wunderschön zu sehen, wie die Pflanzen in der Natur blühen.
sein
to be
es
it
in
in
wie
how
sehen
to see
wunderschön
gorgeous
die Pflanze
the plant
zu
to (infinitive marker)
die Natur
the nature
blühen
to bloom
Questions & Answers about Es ist wunderschön zu sehen, wie die Pflanzen in der Natur blühen.
Why do we use Es at the start of this sentence?
Here, Es acts as a placeholder or dummy subject that points forward to the infinitive phrase zu sehen (to see). We do the exact same thing in English when we say 'It is beautiful to see...'. The actual thing that is beautiful is the act of seeing.
Why is there a comma before wie?
The word wie starts a new subordinate clause here. In German, subordinate clauses must always be separated from the rest of the sentence (including infinitive phrases like zu sehen) with a comma.
Why is the verb blühen at the very end of the sentence?
The clause starting with wie (how) is a subordinate clause. In German, whenever you have a subordinate clause, the conjugated verb (in this case, blühen) gets kicked to the very end of that clause.
Why does the sentence use in der Natur instead of in die Natur?
The preposition in is a two-way preposition. Since the plants are just blooming in a fixed location (answering 'where?') rather than moving into a new space (answering 'where to?'), we must use the dative case. The dative form of the feminine noun die Natur is der Natur.
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