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Questions & Answers about Der Kaffee ist warm.
Why does the sentence use der Kaffee instead of die or das?
In German, the word Kaffee is masculine, which is why it takes the definite article der. Every noun in German has a grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and this happens to be masculine.
What is the difference between warm and heiß in German?
Warm means that something has a moderate amount of heat, comfortable or slightly hot, while heiß usually refers to something very hot or almost too hot to handle. With coffee, you can say Der Kaffee ist heiß if it’s really hot, or Der Kaffee ist warm if it’s comfortably warm.
Why do we say ist instead of using a verb like hat?
In German, when you describe a state or condition (like temperature), you typically use the verb sein (to be). Saying Der Kaffee hat warm would not make sense in German because you’re describing a property (warmth) of the coffee, not something it possesses in the sense of having an object.
Could we change the word order to Warm ist der Kaffee?
Yes, but that would sound more poetic or dramatic and is less common in everyday speech. In regular conversation, Der Kaffee ist warm is the neutral statement. Placing warm first can add emphasis, almost like saying Warm, that’s how the coffee is.