Die Treppe ist lang.

to be

Breakdown of Die Treppe ist lang.

• lang: long
• die Treppe: the stairs

Questions & Answers about Die Treppe ist lang.

Why is the article die used before Treppe?

German nouns have grammatical gender—masculine, feminine, or neuter. Treppe is feminine, so its nominative singular definite article is die.

Which grammatical case is die Treppe in Die Treppe ist lang?

It’s in the nominative case because it functions as the subject of the verb ist (is).

Why doesn’t the adjective lang take an ending (like lange) here?

When an adjective follows a verb like sein (to be) in a predicative position, it remains uninflected. Hence ist lang rather than ist lange.

How would you say “a long staircase” using an indefinite article and an attributive adjective?

You’d say eine lange Treppe. Here lange takes the -e ending to agree with the feminine singular indefinite article eine.

How do you pronounce Treppe?

It’s pronounced [ˈtʁɛpə]. The final -e is a schwa, like the “a” in English “sofa.”