Der Tag ist heute ruhig.

to be

Breakdown of Der Tag ist heute ruhig.

• der Tag: the day
• ruhig: quiet
• heute: today

Questions & Answers about Der Tag ist heute ruhig.

Why is it der Tag and not die Tag or das Tag?

Because Tag is a masculine noun in German. Its basic form is der Tag.

German nouns have grammatical gender:

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

So:

• der Tag = the day

You usually just have to learn the gender together with the noun.

Why is der used here? Is the sentence talking about a specific day?

Yes. Der Tag literally means the day. German often uses the definite article where English might or might not.

In this sentence, der Tag is the subject:

• Der Tag = the day
• ist = is
• heute = today
• ruhig = calm / quiet

It does sound like it refers to today as a day in a general descriptive way.

Why is ist in the second position?

Because German main clauses usually follow the verb-second rule (V2). The finite verb normally comes in the second position.

In this sentence:

• Der Tag = position 1
• ist = position 2
• heute ruhig = the rest

That is standard German word order.

Why does ruhig not have an ending like ?