Die Kombination aus Reis und Gemüse schmeckt gut.
The combination of rice and vegetables tastes good.
Breakdown of Die Kombination aus Reis und Gemüse schmeckt gut.
und
and
gut
good
das Gemüse
the vegetable
schmecken
to taste
der Reis
the rice
aus
of
die Kombination
the combination
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Questions & Answers about Die Kombination aus Reis und Gemüse schmeckt gut.
Why is schmeckt in the singular form when there are two items, rice and vegetables?
The verb agrees with the grammatical subject of the sentence, which is die Kombination (singular). The phrase aus Reis und Gemüse simply describes what the combination consists of—it is not the subject itself.
Why is the preposition aus used here, and could I use von instead?
Kombination aus is a fixed, idiomatic collocation in German meaning “combination of.” It requires aus (plus dative). You might occasionally see Kombination von Reis und Gemüse, but aus is more natural when you want to emphasize what something is made out of.
Why don’t Reis and Gemüse have any articles in aus Reis und Gemüse?
Both words are mass (uncountable) nouns and are used in a general sense. German often omits the article before uncountable nouns when speaking generally. If you wanted to refer to specific rice and specific vegetables, you could say aus dem Reis und dem Gemüse (dative articles included).
What case does aus govern, and how would Reis and Gemüse look with articles?
aus is a dative preposition.
- Masculine der Reis → aus dem Reis
- Neuter das Gemüse → aus dem Gemüse
In your sentence, because the sense is general, the articles are simply dropped.
Why is Die Kombination feminine? Where does that gender come from?
The noun Kombination ends in -tion, and in German nearly all nouns with this suffix are feminine. Hence it takes the article die.
Why is the word order Die Kombination aus Reis und Gemüse schmeckt gut and not Die Kombination schmeckt aus Reis und Gemüse gut?
German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule. The entire subject phrase (Die Kombination aus Reis und Gemüse) must occupy the first position, the verb (schmeckt) the second, and any adverbials or complements follow.
If I drop die Kombination and just say Reis und Gemüse schmecken gut, would I then use schmecken?
Yes. In Reis und Gemüse schmecken gut, the plural subject is Reis und Gemüse, so the verb agrees in plural: schmecken. In your original sentence, however, the subject is singular die Kombination, so you use schmeckt.