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Breakdown of Der Park ist durch das Fenster sichtbar.
sein
to be
das Fenster
the window
der Park
the park
durch
through
sichtbar
visible
Questions & Answers about Der Park ist durch das Fenster sichtbar.
What case does durch govern, and why is it durch das Fenster in the accusative?
durch is one of the so-called “FUNDAMENTALPREPOSITIONEN” that always take the accusative case. It expresses movement through or medium. Even though nothing is moving here, the prepositional phrase still follows the accusative requirement of durch. Hence das Fenster (neuter singular) remains das, not dem.
Why is der Park in the nominative case?
der Park is the subject of the sentence. In German, the subject always appears in the nominative case. It’s what the verb ist (to be) is describing.
Is sichtbar a verb or an adjective here?
sichtbar is an adjective (specifically a participial adjective) used predicatively after the copula ist. It describes the state of der Park (“the park is visible”). It is not functioning as a verb form of sehen (“to see”).
Could I rephrase this with a verb like sehen instead of sichtbar?
Yes. A paraphrase is Man kann den Park durch das Fenster sehen (“One can see the park through the window”). That uses the active verb sehen, but keeps the same meaning.
Why does sichtbar come at the end of the sentence instead of right after ist?
You could say Der Park ist sichtbar durch das Fenster, but it sounds more natural in German to keep the prepositional phrase durch das Fenster before the final adjective sichtbar when you want to emphasize how the park is visible. Word order in German allows both, but the original flows better.
Is this a passive construction?
No. A passive in German would use a past participle plus an auxiliary like werden or sein in a way that indicates an action being done to the subject (e.g., Der Park wird gezeigt). Here, ist sichtbar is simply the verb sein with an adjective complement, not a true passive voice.
Can I front durch das Fenster for emphasis?
Absolutely. You can say Durch das Fenster ist der Park sichtbar. Fronting the prepositional phrase highlights the vantage point (“Through the window, the park is visible”). The verb still stays in second position.
Why do we say das Fenster and not der Fenster?
Fenster is a neuter noun in German. Its definite article in singular for both nominative and accusative is das, so das Fenster remains unchanged in both cases.
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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