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Breakdown of Die Lautstärke im Café ist zu hoch.
sein
to be
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
das Café
the café
zu
too
hoch
high
die Lautstärke
the volume
Questions & Answers about Die Lautstärke im Café ist zu hoch.
Why is Lautstärke feminine?
In German, all nouns ending in -keit are always feminine. That’s why you say die Lautstärke.
What’s the difference between Lautstärke and Lärm?
Lautstärke refers to the volume level (i.e. how loud something is), whereas Lärm means noise (usually unpleasant or disruptive sound).
Why is im Café used instead of in dem Café?
Im is simply the contraction of in + dem, which is very common in both spoken and written German.
Why isn’t the adjective hoch inflected (why not hohe)?
After a form of sein plus the intensifier zu, the adjective stays in its base form. That’s why you have ist zu hoch, not ist zu hohe.
Could we say Die Lautstärke im Café ist zu laut instead?
Yes, you can. Saying zu laut (“too loud”) focuses on the subjective loudness, while zu hoch (“too high”) literally refers to the volume level being set too high. Both are grammatically correct.
Why is Die Lautstärke in the nominative case?
Because Die Lautstärke is the subject of the sentence (the thing that is too high). In German, the subject of sein takes the nominative case.
How do you pronounce Café in German?
You pronounce it /kaˈfeː/, with stress on the second syllable. The accent on the é signals that the vowel is open and stressed, carrying over from French.
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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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