Die Katze trinkt Wasser.

The cat drinks water.

Breakdown of Die Katze trinkt Wasser.

• trinken: to drink
• das Wasser: the water
• die Katze: the cat

Questions & Answers about Die Katze trinkt Wasser.

Why is Katze accompanied by the feminine article die?

In German, nouns have grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The word Katze is inherently feminine, so the correct article is die.

Why is Katze capitalized, while trinkt and Wasser have different capitalization?

In German, all nouns are capitalized: Katze and Wasser are nouns. The verb trinkt is not capitalized because it’s a verb.

Why doesn’t Wasser have an article like das in this sentence?

When referring to substances or uncountable things in a general sense, German often doesn’t use an article. If you want to specify something like “the water” (for instance, a particular glass of water), you would say Das Wasser.

How does trinkt change if a different subject is used?

The verb trinken is conjugated differently depending on the subject. For example:
• Ich trinke Wasser (I drink water)
• Du trinkst Wasser (You drink water)
• Er/Sie/Es trinkt Wasser (He/She/It drinks water)
• Wir trinken Wasser (We drink water), and so on.

Is Katze always feminine, or is there a masculine form too?

Katze generally refers to a female cat. The masculine equivalent is Kater, meaning “tomcat.” You would say Der Kater trinkt Wasser if you specifically want to indicate a male cat.