Questions & Answers about Die Wissenschaft ist wichtig.
What is the gender and case of die Wissenschaft, and how can I tell?
• die is the feminine singular definite article in the nominative case.
• You know it’s nominative because Wissenschaft is the subject of the sentence.
• You know it’s feminine because die (not der or das) is used.
Why is Wissenschaft capitalized?
Why do we use ist here instead of sind?
• ist is the third‐person singular form of the verb sein (to be).
• Since Wissenschaft is singular, it takes ist.
• You would use sind only with plural subjects.
What part of speech is wichtig, and why doesn’t it have an ending like in “gutes” or “guter”?
• wichtig is an adjective.
• Here it’s used predicatively (linked by ist) rather than attributively (directly modifying a noun).
• Predicative adjectives in German do not take adjective endings.
Could you say Wissenschaft ist wichtig without the article? If so, what’s the nuance?
Yes.
• Wissenschaft ist wichtig treats “science” more abstractly or generally, like “Science is important” as a universal truth.
• Die Wissenschaft ist wichtig feels slightly more concrete, pointing to the field of science or a particular science community.
Is Wissenschaft countable? What about die Wissenschaften?
• Wissenschaft is usually uncountable when you mean “science” as a whole.
• Wissenschaften (plural) refers to distinct scientific disciplines (e.g., Naturwissenschaften, Geisteswissenschaften).
• In everyday speech, you’ll most often see the singular for “science in general.”
What is the basic word order in this sentence?
It follows the standard German main‐clause pattern:
- Subject (Die Wissenschaft)
- Verb (ist)
- Predicate (wichtig)
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