Word
Es muss bestimmt eine seltene Art sein.
Meaning
It must definitely be a rare species.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Es muss bestimmt eine seltene Art sein.
sein
to be
ein
a, an (eine)
es
it
müssen
to have to, must
Questions & Answers about Es muss bestimmt eine seltene Art sein.
Doesn't müssen mean 'to have to'? Why is it used here if no one is being forced?
Usually, müssen expresses an obligation or necessity. But here, it's being used subjectively to express a very strong assumption. It works exactly like the English 'must' in 'It must be...', meaning the speaker is highly confident that this is a rare species based on the evidence.
What role does bestimmt play next to muss?
bestimmt often translates to 'determined' or 'specific', but in this context, it functions as an adverb meaning 'definitely' or 'certainly'. Germans frequently pair subjective modal verbs with adverbs like bestimmt or sicher to emphasize just how convinced they are of their assumption.
Why is it eine seltene Art? What case is this?
It is in the nominative case. Even though it comes after the verb, the verb is sein (to be), which acts like an equals sign rather than taking a direct object. Because Art is a feminine noun (die Art), the adjective selten gets the standard -e ending after the feminine word eine.
Does the German word Art mean the same thing as 'art' in English?
No, they are false friends! In German, die Art means a 'kind', 'sort', or in this biological context, a 'species'. If you want to talk about 'art' in the sense of paintings or sculpture, the German word is die Kunst.