Word
Der Sohn ist traurig.
Meaning
The son is sad.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Der Sohn ist traurig.
Why is it Der Sohn and not something else?
In German, nouns have grammatical gender. Sohn (son) is a masculine noun, so it uses the masculine article der in the nominative case.
Why do we say ist traurig instead of another verb like hat?
To express a state of being sad in German, you typically use sein (to be) + an adjective. Hence, ist traurig translates to is sad.
Do I need to change the form of the adjective traurig because it refers to a masculine noun?
In this sentence, the adjective traurig follows the verb ist, so it remains unchanged. Adjective endings come into play when an adjective is placed directly before a noun, as in der traurige Sohn.
Is there a specific word order rule to follow here?
In a simple sentence, the basic word order is subject + verb + other elements. So Der Sohn (subject) + ist (verb) + traurig (complement) is the standard arrangement in German.