Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr.

today

Breakdown of Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr.

• die Uhr: the clock
• beginnen: to begin
• um: at

Questions & Answers about Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr.

Why is it das Seminar and not der or die Seminar?

In German, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine (der), feminine (die) or neuter (das).
Seminar happens to be neuter, so it takes the article das in the nominative singular:

• das Seminar – the seminar

There is no fully reliable rule that tells you the gender just from looking at the word; you usually have to learn it with the noun:

• das Seminar (neuter)
• der Kurs (masculine) – the course
• die Vorlesung (feminine) – the lecture

So the sentence starts with Das Seminar because the noun Seminar is neuter and is the subject of the sentence in the nominative case.

What case is das Seminar, and why?

Das Seminar is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence – the thing that is performing the action.

Basic pattern:

• Das Seminar (subject, nominative)
• beginnt (verb)
• heute um neun Uhr (adverbial information about time)

The nominative answers “who/what is doing something?”:

• Wer / was beginnt? – Das Seminar.

Why is the verb in second position? Could the word order be different?