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Questions & Answers about Der Himmel ist blau.
Why is der used as the article for Himmel?
German nouns have grammatical gender (masculine, feminine or neuter). Himmel (sky) is masculine, so in the nominative singular its definite article is der.
How do I know the gender of a German noun like Himmel?
Unfortunately there’s no perfect rule for gender. You can
- Consult a good dictionary (it will list m/f/n),
- Learn common endings (e.g. -ung words are usually feminine),
- Memorize with the noun (e.g. learn “der Himmel” as a single phrase).
What case is der Himmel in, and why?
This is the nominative case. In German, the subject of a sentence is in nominative, and Himmel is the subject of the verb ist (is).
Why doesn’t blau have an ending, and when do adjectives take endings in German?
In this sentence blau is a predicate adjective (it follows a copular verb like sein). Predicate adjectives are not inflected, so you simply use the base form blau.
By contrast, attributive adjectives (those placed directly before a noun) do take endings. For example: “der blaue Himmel.”
Why is Himmel capitalized in the middle of the sentence?
German orthography requires that all nouns be capitalized, no matter where they appear in a sentence.