Die Blumen auf der Straße sind noch nass vom Regen.

to be

Breakdown of Die Blumen auf der Straße sind noch nass vom Regen.

• nass: wet
• der: the
• die Straße: the street
• der Regen: the rain
• noch: still
• die Blume: the flower
• auf: on

Questions & Answers about Die Blumen auf der Straße sind noch nass vom Regen.

Why do we say auf der Straße and not in der Straße or something else?

The preposition auf emphasizes that the flowers are situated on the street surface itself, rather than being in the street in the sense of being enclosed. If you said in der Straße, it might suggest they are inside something like a narrow passage or a trench (which is not the usual context here). So auf der Straße is the most natural choice.

Why do we use vom Regen instead of von dem Regen?

In German, vom is a standard contraction of von dem. It’s very common to use vom in everyday speech. Grammatically, there’s no difference in meaning; vom simply sounds more natural and concise in most contexts.

Why is the verb sind used instead of ist?

Because die Blumen is plural, the verb must also be plural. Sind is the third-person plural form of sein, while ist is the third-person singular form.

What role does noch play here?

Noch translates roughly to still in English. It indicates that the flowers remain wet. This implies that the rain has stopped, but the wetness is ongoing.

Why does die Straße change to der Straße?

When using auf in a static sense (indicating location rather than motion), the noun that follows often takes the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.