Breakdown of Hier ist die Strömung am schnellsten.
sein
to be
hier
here
schnell
fast, quickly
am
the most (superlative marker)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Strömung
the current
Questions & Answers about Hier ist die Strömung am schnellsten.
The lesson is about adding -e to adjectives to make nouns. Can I turn schnell into die Schnelle?
Yes, you can! die Schnelle is a valid noun meaning "rapidity" or "quickness." However, to express the general concept of "speed," German speakers usually use die Schnelligkeit (or die Geschwindigkeit). You will most often hear die Schnelle in the very common phrase auf die Schnelle, which means "in a hurry" or "on the fly."
Why is it am schnellsten and not just schnellst or das schnellste?
When a superlative adjective stands alone after the verb sein (to be) rather than right in front of a noun, you must use the am ...-sten construction. If you wanted to put the adjective directly in front of the noun, you would use an article and an adjective ending: die schnellste Strömung (the fastest current).
Strömung is feminine. Does it follow the same noun-creation rule as the words in this lesson?
It shares the feminine gender, but uses a different building block. The nouns focused on in this lesson are derived from adjectives (like groß -> die Größe). Strömung, on the other hand, is made by taking the stem of the verb strömen (to flow/stream) and adding the suffix -ung. Remember that all German nouns ending in -ung are strictly feminine.
Why is Hier at the start of the sentence instead of Die Strömung?
Starting with Hier puts special emphasis on the location—it stresses that this specific spot is where the current is fastest. Because German insists on keeping the conjugated verb in the second position, the verb ist must come immediately after Hier, which pushes the subject die Strömung into the third position.
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