Breakdown of Sind die Kriterien wirklich objektiv?
sein
to be
wirklich
really
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
objektiv
objective
Questions & Answers about Sind die Kriterien wirklich objektiv?
What is the singular form of Kriterien, and is there a reliable rule for its gender?
The singular is das Kriterium. You can confidently predict the gender here: nearly all nouns of Latin or Greek origin that end in the suffix -um are neuter (das).
How does the plural rule work to get Kriterien from Kriterium?
For these foreign loanwords ending in -um, the plural is formed by dropping the -um entirely and adding -en. Therefore, das Kriterium becomes die Kriterien. You will see this exactly same predictable pattern in words like das Museum (die Museen) and das Datum (die Daten).
Since Kriterien is plural, why doesn't the adjective objektiv have a plural ending like objektive?
Adjectives in German only take declension endings when they are placed directly before a noun as attributive adjectives. Here, objektiv is a predicative adjective, meaning it follows a linking verb (sind) to describe the subject. Predicative adjectives are never inflected with endings in German.
Is objektiv also a loanword, and how is its ending pronounced?