Breakdown of Das ist ein wichtiger Unterschied.
sein
to be
wichtig
important
der Unterschied
the difference
Questions & Answers about Das ist ein wichtiger Unterschied.
Why does the adjective wichtig have an -er ending here?
The verb ist triggers the nominative case. Because the noun Unterschied is masculine and its indefinite article ein lacks a specific gender ending, the adjective must show the gender. It does this by taking the strong masculine nominative ending -er to become wichtiger.
Since Unterschied is a masculine noun, shouldn't the sentence start with Der instead of Das?
When you point something out using phrases like 'that is' or 'these are', German uses the fixed neutral pronoun das as a dummy subject. It stays as das regardless of the gender or plural form of the noun that comes after the verb.
Is the noun Unterschied related to a verb?
Yes, it comes from the inseparable verb unterscheiden, which means to distinguish or to differentiate. Many German nouns are formed directly from verb roots like this.
How would I expand this sentence to say 'an important difference between...'?
You would use the preposition zwischen followed by the dative case. For example, you could say ein wichtiger Unterschied zwischen den beiden meaning 'an important difference between the two'.
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