Breakdown of Ein Spaziergang am Fluss ist schön.
sein
to be
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
der Fluss
the river
der Spaziergang
the walk
an
by
schön
nice
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Questions & Answers about Ein Spaziergang am Fluss ist schön.
Why is Ein used here instead of Eine or Einen?
Because Spaziergang is a masculine noun (der Spaziergang). In German the indefinite article changes with gender, case and number. Here it is:
- masculine
- singular
- nominative (it’s the subject of the sentence)
The correct form for masculine nominative singular is ein.
What does am mean and how is it formed?
am is simply the contraction of an dem.
- an is a two-way preposition that can mean “at,” “on,” or “by,” depending on context.
- dem is the dative masculine article.
So an dem Fluss (“at the river”) becomes am Fluss.
Which case does the preposition an take in this sentence?
It takes the dative case.
- With two-way (Wechsel-) prepositions like an, you use dative for location (Wo?) and accusative for movement toward (Wohin?).
- Here we’re talking about the location of the walk (“at the river”), so it’s dative: an + dem Fluss → am Fluss.
Why is schön not inflected here (no ending like -e or -en)?
Because schön is used predicatively after the copular verb sein (to be).
- Predicative adjectives in German never take endings.
- Only attributive adjectives (those directly before a noun, e.g. ein schöner Spaziergang) get inflection.
Why does the verb ist come before schön rather than at the very end of the sentence?
This is simply German main-clause word order (Verb-second, or V2):
1) First you can have a subject or any other element
2) Then the finite verb (ist)
3) Then the rest of the sentence (schön, the predicative adjective).
Only in subordinate clauses does the verb move to the end.
How could I express “a walk along the river” differently in German?
You can use the preposition entlang (“along”):
- Ein Spaziergang entlang des Flusses ist schön.
(Here entlang takes the genitive des Flusses.) - Colloquially you also hear Ein Spaziergang am Fluss entlang ist schön.
(“am Fluss entlang” uses dative because am is already dative.)