Word
Das Foto ist alt, aber wertvoll.
Meaning
The photo is old but valuable.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Das Foto ist alt, aber wertvoll.
Why is it das Foto and not der Foto or die Foto?
Because Foto is a neuter noun in German, so it takes the article das.
- das Foto = the photo
- ein Foto = a photo
German nouns have grammatical gender, and you usually have to learn the noun together with its article.
Why is Foto spelled with F instead of Ph like photo in English?
German often uses more phonetic spelling than English. The word is commonly written Foto, with F, because that matches the sound.
You may also see Photographie in some formal or older contexts, but in everyday German:
- das Foto = the photo
- fotografieren = to photograph
So Foto is the normal modern spelling.
Why is the verb ist in the second position?