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Breakdown of Das kalte Wasser kühlt die Haut.
das Wasser
the water
kalt
cold
die Haut
the skin
kühlen
to cool
Questions & Answers about Das kalte Wasser kühlt die Haut.
Why is Wasser neuter and not masculine or feminine?
In German the gender of nouns is lexical, and Wasser happens to be neuter. That’s why you use the definite article das for singular.
Why is the adjective kalte not kalter or kaltes?
Because it’s an attributive adjective preceded by a definite article in the nominative neuter singular. According to the weak-declension pattern you add -e, giving das kalte Wasser.
What case is das kalte Wasser in?
It’s in the nominative case, since it functions as the subject of the sentence.
What case is die Haut in, and how do I know?
die Haut is in the accusative case (direct object). In feminine singular, both nominative and accusative of the definite article are die, so you identify it as the object by its position after the verb.
Why is the verb kühlt placed second in the sentence?
German main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule: the finite verb must appear as the second element. Here the subject phrase Das kalte Wasser occupies the first position, so kühlt comes next.
Why is the verb form kühlt?
The verb kühlen is conjugated in the present tense, third person singular to agree with the subject das Wasser, hence kühlt.
Why isn’t there a reflexive pronoun? Could it be Das kalte Wasser kühlt sich die Haut?
The verb kühlen is transitive and takes a direct object (die Haut). You only use a reflexive pronoun with sich kühlen or abkühlen, which means “to cool oneself down,” not “to cool something else.”
Could I say Kaltes Wasser kühlt die Haut without das?
Yes. As a general statement you can drop the article and use strong adjective declension: Kaltes Wasser kühlt die Haut. Note the adjective ending -es (nominative neuter).
How do I form the passive voice (“The skin is cooled by the cold water”)?
You say Die Haut wird vom kalten Wasser gekühlt. Here wird is the passive auxiliary, vom is the contraction of von dem (by the), and gekühlt is the past participle.
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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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