Learn Hardcore German: Das Herz ist stark.

In German every noun has a fixed grammatical gender. Herz (heart) is a neuter noun, so it takes the neuter definite article das in the nominative case.

Why is Herz capitalized?

German orthography requires that all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence. Herz is a noun, so it always begins with a capital letter.

What case is das Herz in, and how can I tell?

It’s in the nominative case because das Herz is the subject of the sentence (the thing performing the “being strong”). In German the subject of a clause is nominative.

Why doesn’t stark have an ending like starken or starke?

When an adjective follows a form of sein (to be) and describes the subject, it is called a predicate adjective. Predicate adjectives are not inflected for gender, number, or case. Therefore you always use the base form stark.

Could I say Ein Herz ist stark instead?

Yes, grammatically that’s correct, but it changes the nuance. Ein Herz ist stark means “a heart is strong” (one heart among many). Das Herz ist stark often refers to a specific heart (or hearts in general, as a concept): “the heart is strong.”

Why is ist (the verb “is”) in the second position?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) word order rule: the finite verb appears in the second position. Here Das Herz occupies position one, ist is in position two, and stark comes at the end.

How do I pronounce Herz and stark?

Herz is pronounced [hɛɐ̯ts], with a sharp “ts” at the end, and stark is [ʃtaʁk], where “st” sounds like English “sht” and the final “r” is the guttural German /ʁ/.

On which syllable do I place the stress in stark?

Stark is a one-syllable word, so the stress naturally falls on that single syllable. If it were multi-syllabic, strong adjectives often take the stress on the stem.