Erfahrung ist wichtig.

to be

Breakdown of Erfahrung ist wichtig.

• wichtig: important
• die Erfahrung: the experience

Questions & Answers about Erfahrung ist wichtig.

Why is there no article before Erfahrung?

In German, when you make a general statement about a concept, you often drop the article entirely. Here Erfahrung is used in a generic sense (“experience in general”), so no der, die or eine appears.

What case and number is Erfahrung in this sentence?

Erfahrung is in the nominative singular.

• Nominative because it’s the subject of the verb ist (“is”).
• Singular because we’re referring to the idea of experience as a whole, not individual experiences.

What is the gender of Erfahrung and how would you say “an experience” or “the experience” in German?

Erfahrung is a feminine noun.

• “The experience” = die Erfahrung
• “An experience” = eine Erfahrung
  Remember to adjust adjective endings or case endings if you put it into a different grammatical context.

Why isn’t wichtig declined here?

After the copular verb ist (a form of “to be”), adjectives remain in their base form—no endings. We call this a predicate adjective. It simply describes the subject without any case or gender agreement.