Word
Der Plan ist hilfreich.
Meaning
The plan is helpful.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Der Plan ist hilfreich.
Why is the article der used before Plan?
Because Plan is a masculine noun in German. In the nominative case (when it’s the subject), the masculine definite article is der.
What case is der Plan in this sentence?
It’s in the nominative case, since der Plan functions as the subject of the sentence.
Why doesn’t hilfreich have an ending like hilfreiche?
Here hilfreich is used predicatively (after the verb sein), and predicative adjectives are not declined in German—they stay in their base form.
How would the adjective change if it were attributive, as in “the helpful plan”?
An attributive adjective must agree in gender, case, and number with its noun. So you’d say der hilfreiche Plan (masculine, nominative, singular).
Why is the verb ist and not sind?