Breakdown of Deine Nachricht war sehr kurz.
sein
to be
sehr
very
dein
your (informal)
kurz
shortly / short
die Nachricht
the message
Questions & Answers about Deine Nachricht war sehr kurz.
Why doesn't kurz have a feminine ending like kurze here?
In German, adjectives only get endings (like -e or -en) when they come directly before a noun, such as in eine kurze Nachricht (a short message). Because kurz comes after the verb war, it stays in its basic dictionary form.
Why do we use Deine instead of Dein?
The word Nachricht is a feminine noun (die Nachricht). Since it is the subject of the sentence (in the nominative case), the possessive word dein (your) must take the feminine ending -e to become Deine.
Is war the standard way to say "was" in spoken German?
Yes! war is the simple past tense (Präteritum) of sein (to be). Even though spoken German usually prefers the spoken past (Perfekt) for most verbs, the simple past is almost always used for the verbs sein and haben.
Does Nachricht mean a text message, or does it mean "the news"?
It can be both! In the singular, die Nachricht usually means a personal message (like a text, email, or voicemail). When used in the plural (die Nachrichten), it usually refers to "the news" you watch on TV or read in the paper.
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