Breakdown of Das Konzert war großartig.
sein
to be
das Konzert
the concert
großartig
magnificent, terrific
Questions & Answers about Das Konzert war großartig.
How would I adapt this sentence to say "The concert itself was magnificent"?
You would place the emphatic intensifier selbst (or selber) right after the noun it emphasizes: Das Konzert selbst war großartig. This is the perfect way to contrast the concert with something else, like the terrible weather or the bad parking situation.
What exactly does the suffix -artig mean in the word großartig?
It comes from the noun die Art, meaning "the type" or "the kind". When attached to groß (big or great), it forms an adjective meaning "of a great kind" (magnificent or awesome). You will also see this suffix in words like neuartig (novel) or eigenartig (peculiar).
Why does this sentence use the simple past form war instead of the conversational past ist gewesen?
While spoken German heavily favors the conversational past (Perfekt) for most verbs, the helping verbs sein (to be) and haben (to have) are major exceptions. Native speakers almost always use their simple past (Präteritum) forms, like war and hatte, even in very casual, everyday speech.
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