Die dritte Tür ist grün.

to be

Breakdown of Die dritte Tür ist grün.

• die Tür: the door
• grün: green
• dritte: third

Questions & Answers about Die dritte Tür ist grün.

Why is the article die used here instead of der or das?

Tür is a feminine noun in German. In the nominative singular (the case for the subject of a sentence), the definite article for feminine nouns is die, so you say die Tür.

Why does dritte end with -e?

When you use an ordinal number (first, second, third…) as an adjective before a noun, it takes an adjective ending that agrees with the noun’s gender, case, and number. For a feminine noun (Tür) in the nominative singular with a definite article (die), the weak ending is -e, giving you die dritte Tür.

How would the ending change if Tür were masculine or neuter?

It depends on gender and case:

• Masculine nominative: der dritte Mann (ending -e)
• Neuter nominative: das dritte Kind (ending -e)
• Plural nominative (any gender): die dritten Türen (ending -en)

Why is grün not grüne?

In Die dritte Tür ist grün, grün is used predicatively (after the verb sein). Predicate adjectives do not take endings, so you leave it as grün. If you put the adjective before the noun (attributively), you would get die grüne Tür.