Word
Der See ist tief.
Meaning
The lake is deep.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Der See ist tief.
Why is it der and not die or das?
Because See meaning a lake is masculine in German, so the nominative singular definite article is der. There is also die See (feminine) meaning the sea in maritime/literary German, but in everyday use the sea is das Meer.
Why is ist in the second position?
German main clauses follow the verb‑second rule. One element (here, the subject Der See) comes first, the conjugated verb ist comes second, and the rest follows. If you move another element to the front, the verb still stays second: Heute ist der See tief.
Why doesn’t tief have an ending like tiefe?
Because tief is used predicatively after sein; predicative adjectives are not inflected. Before a noun (attributive), it takes an ending: der tiefe See, ein tiefer See, tiefe Seen.
How do I turn this into a question?
- Yes–no question: Ist der See tief?
- With a wh-word: Wie tief ist der See?
How do I negate it?