Questions & Answers about Das war eine gute Tat.
Since Tat is feminine, shouldn't the sentence start with Die instead of Das?
When introducing or pointing something out using the verb sein (to be), German uses the fixed neutral pronoun das (that/this), regardless of the gender of the noun that follows. You only need to match the feminine gender for the article (eine) and the adjective (gute).
Why is the ending -e used on gute here?
Tat is a feminine noun (die Tat), and in this sentence, it is in the nominative case. After the feminine indefinite article eine, adjectives always take the -e ending. You would only see guten if the phrase were in the dative or genitive case.
Is the noun Tat (deed) related to a specific verb?
Yes, it is the noun form of the verb tun (to do). A Tat is literally a deed or an action. While this lesson focuses on nominalized participles for people, you can also form person-nouns from words like this using the suffix -er: a person who commits a Tat (usually a crime) is called der Täter (the perpetrator).
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