Der Tritt ist unter dem Klettergriff.

Der Tritt is the subject of the sentence — the thing being described.

In German, a very basic sentence often follows this pattern:

• subject
  • verb
    • other information

So here:

• Der Tritt = the subject
• ist = is
• unter dem Klettergriff = under the climbing hold

So the structure is very similar to English:

• The foothold is under the climbing hold.

Yes. Tritt is a masculine noun, so its dictionary form is der Tritt.

In German, every noun has a grammatical gender:

• der = masculine
• die = feminine
• das = neuter

This gender does not always match anything logical in English, so it usually has to be learned along with the noun.

So it is best to learn:

• der Tritt = step / foothold / tread

In this sentence, Tritt most naturally means a foothold or step, especially in a climbing context.

That is because it appears with Klettergriff:

• klettern = to climb
• der Griff = grip / hold
• der Klettergriff = climbing hold

So if the sentence is about a climbing wall, Tritt is probably a foothold for the foot.

Be aware that Tritt can have other meanings in other contexts, such as:

• a step
• a tread
• even a kick in some situations

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Because unter is a two-way preposition.

Two-way prepositions can take:

• dative when talking about location
• accusative when talking about movement toward a destination

Here, the sentence describes where something is:

• The foothold is under the climbing hold.

That is a location, so German uses the dative:

• unter dem Klettergriff

If there were movement to that position, you would use the accusative instead:

• Ich stelle den Tritt unter den Klettergriff. = I place the foothold under the climbing hold.

So:

• unter dem ... = under, located there
• unter den ... = under, moved there

Dem is the dative singular form of der.

Since:

• Klettergriff is masculine: der Klettergriff
• unter here requires the dative
• the noun is singular

the article changes like this:

• nominative: der Klettergriff
• dative: dem Klettergriff

So:

• unter dem Klettergriff = under the climbing hold

Klettergriff is a compound noun, which is very common in German.

It is made from:

• klettern / Kletter- = climbing
• der Griff = grip, hold

So:

• der Klettergriff = climbing hold

A useful thing to know about German compounds: the last part usually determines the grammatical gender.

Since Griff is masculine (der Griff), the whole compound is also masculine:

• der Klettergriff

Because all nouns are capitalized in German.

So in this sentence:

• Der
• Tritt
• Klettergriff

the nouns are:

• Tritt
• Klettergriff

This is one of the most noticeable spelling differences between English and German.

German main clauses usually follow the verb-second rule.

That means the finite verb goes in the second position of the sentence.

Here:

• Der Tritt = first position
• ist = second position
• unter dem Klettergriff = the rest

So this is standard German word order.

You could also move another element to the front for emphasis, but the verb would still stay second:

• Unter dem Klettergriff ist der Tritt.

That is grammatical, but the original sentence is more neutral.

Yes, you could, but it sounds a bit different.

• unter dem Klettergriff = under the climbing hold
• unterhalb des Klettergriffs = below the climbing hold

Unter dem often suggests being directly under something. Unterhalb von or unterhalb des can sound a bit more like below in position.

In many situations, both are possible, but unter dem Klettergriff is the most straightforward and natural wording here.

A few small points may help:

• Tritt has a short i sound: roughly like trit
• ist has the same short i
• unter sounds roughly like OON-ter
• dem has a long e sound
• Klettergriff is pronounced in parts: Klet-ter-griff

Also, German r is not pronounced like a strong English r in every position, and the final -ig issue does not apply here because the word ends in -griff.

If you want to say it rhythmically:

• Der TRITT ist UN-ter dem KLET-ter-griff.

In this sentence, yes, they are natural and expected:

• Der Tritt
• dem Klettergriff

German often uses articles where English might also use them, especially when referring to specific visible objects.

So if you are talking about a particular foothold and a particular climbing hold, the definite articles make perfect sense:

• The foothold is under the climbing hold.

Without articles, the sentence would sound incomplete or unnatural in normal German.