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Questions & Answers about Der Satz ist lang.
Why is it Der Satz and not Die Satz or Das Satz?
German nouns have grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Satz is masculine, so in the nominative (subject) case it takes the definite article der. Feminine nouns take die, neuter nouns take das.
Why isn’t lang written as lange?
When an adjective follows a form of sein (to be), it functions as a predicate adjective and remains uninflected. You say Der Satz ist lang, not lange. Only attributive adjectives (those directly before a noun) take endings.
What would the adjective look like if it were attributive, for example “a long sentence”?
You’d say ein langer Satz. Here langer gets the mixed/strong masculine nominative ending -er after the indefinite article ein. But as a predicate with sein, you drop the ending: ist lang.
Why is the verb ist placed in the second position in the sentence?
German main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must occupy the second position. Here the first position is Der Satz (subject), so the verb ist comes second, and the adjective lang follows.