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Questions & Answers about Der Baum ist hoch.
What is der in this sentence?
Der is the definite article for masculine singular nouns in the nominative case. It corresponds to the in English and shows that Baum is a masculine noun acting as the subject.
Why is Baum capitalized?
In German, all nouns are always capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence. That’s why Baum starts with a capital letter.
Why is Baum in the nominative case?
Because Baum is the subject of the sentence (the “doer” of the action), and subjects in German take the nominative case. The article der also signals the nominative masculine singular.
Why doesn’t hoch have an ending or declension?
Here hoch is used predicatively (after the linking verb ist). Predicative adjectives in German remain in their base form and do not take adjective endings.
How would I turn this into a question in German?
You invert the verb and the subject:
Ist der Baum hoch?
That means “Is the tree tall?”
How do I say “The trees are tall” in German?
Use the plural article die, the plural noun Bäume, and the plural form of the verb:
Die Bäume sind hoch.
What’s the difference between hoch and groß?
Hoch refers specifically to vertical height (e.g. a mountain or tree is hoch). Groß means large or big in general (e.g. a tall person is groß, a large house is groß).
How do I say “very tall” for the tree?
Simply add sehr before the adjective:
Der Baum ist sehr hoch.
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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