Breakdown of Der Tee im Garten ist heiß.
sein
to be
in
in
dem
the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
der Garten
the garden
Questions & Answers about Der Tee im Garten ist heiß.
Why is Tee masculine and why do we use der?
In German every noun has a grammatical gender (masculine, feminine or neuter). Tee happens to be masculine, so in the nominative case (subject position) it takes the masculine definite article der. There’s no logical rule for gender here—you just have to learn each noun’s gender along with the noun itself.
What does im mean, and why isn’t it written as two words?
Im is a contraction of in dem:
- in = “in” (preposition)
- dem = the dative masculine/neuter singular definite article.
When you merge in- dem, you get im, which is written as one word in German.
Why is Garten in the dative case?
German prepositions can govern different cases depending on meaning. Here, in expresses location (“where?”), and when in indicates a static location, it requires the dative case. That’s why you see dem Garten (contracted to im Garten) rather than accusative or another case.
Why isn’t heiß declined like an attributive adjective (e.g. heißer)?
When an adjective follows a verb like sein (to be) and describes the subject, it is used predicatively, not attributively. Predicative adjectives in German never take endings. They stay in their base form. So you say ist heiß, not ist heißer.