Breakdown of Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle.
Questions & Answers about Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle.
In German, every noun has a grammatical gender that you simply have to learn with the noun:
- die Entscheidung = feminine (singular)
- der = masculine article
- das = neuter article
So Entscheidung is always feminine:
- die Entscheidung (the decision)
- eine Entscheidung (a decision)
- meine Entscheidung (my decision)
The gender here is grammatical, not logical—there’s nothing inherently “female” about a decision.
Die Entscheidung is in the nominative case. It is the subject of the sentence – the thing the sentence is about:
- Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle.
→ The decision is fair for everyone.
In a simple “X is Y” sentence with sein (to be), the noun before ist is usually the subject in the nominative.
In the given sentence, there is no adjective directly before Entscheidung, so you don’t see any adjective ending there.
If you did add one, it would take the feminine nominative singular ending -e:
- Die richtige Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle.
→ The right decision is fair for everyone.
Here:
- die (article) = nominative feminine singular
- richtig
- ending -e → richtige
- Entscheidung (feminine noun)
The adjective before the noun follows the gender, case, and number of the noun.
gerecht is an adjective used predicatively (after the verb sein):
- Die Entscheidung ist gerecht.
When an adjective comes after a linking verb like sein, werden, bleiben, it is predicative and does not take any ending.
Adjective endings only appear when the adjective is directly in front of a noun, like:
- eine gerechte Entscheidung (an equitable decision)
So:
- gerecht (predicative, no ending)
- gerechte (attributive, before a noun, with ending)
The preposition für in German always takes the accusative case.
The declension of alle (as a pronoun) is:
- Nominative plural: alle
- Accusative plural: alle
- Dative plural: allen
- Genitive plural: aller
Because für requires the accusative, you must use alle:
- für alle (for everyone) ✅
- für allen ❌ (wrong after für)
If you needed the dative (without für), you might say:
- allen gegenüber (towards everyone / with respect to everyone)
Yes, Die Entscheidung ist allen gerecht is also correct and common.
Difference in structure:
- gerecht für alle → gerecht
- prepositional phrase with für (accusative)
- gerecht allen → gerecht
- indirect object in dative plural
Nuance:
- gerecht für alle sounds a bit like “fair for everyone” from their point of view.
- gerecht allen literally “is just to everyone” and can sound slightly more formal or “German-native” in some contexts.
Both are acceptable; you’ll often hear:
- Die Entscheidung ist allen gegenüber gerecht. (very idiomatic)
You can say für jeden, but the meaning shifts slightly.
- für alle = for everyone as a group, “for all people”
- für jeden = for each individual person, “for each one”
Examples:
- Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle.
→ The decision is fair for everyone (as a whole group). - Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für jeden.
→ The decision is fair for each person, taken individually.
Both are grammatically fine; which you choose depends on the nuance you want.
You can change the order slightly without changing the meaning much. All of these are possible:
- Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle.
- Die Entscheidung ist für alle gerecht.
The second one, ist für alle gerecht, can put a bit more emphasis on für alle (“for everyone”) as the focus. But in everyday speech, both versions are natural and mean essentially the same thing.
ist is present tense of sein (3rd person singular).
Other tenses:
Present:
Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle.
→ The decision is fair for everyone.Simple past (Präteritum):
Die Entscheidung war gerecht für alle.
→ The decision was fair for everyone.Future:
Die Entscheidung wird gerecht für alle sein.
→ The decision will be fair for everyone.
In spoken German, people often still use the present with a time expression instead of the explicit future form.
Plural of die Entscheidung is die Entscheidungen.
Example in plural:
- Die Entscheidungen sind gerecht für alle.
→ The decisions are fair for everyone.
Changes:
- Entscheidung → Entscheidungen (add -en)
- ist → sind (3rd person plural)
für alle stays the same (accusative plural).
In German:
All nouns are capitalized, regardless of position in the sentence.
→ Entscheidung is a noun, so Entscheidung is capitalized.Adjectives and pronouns are not capitalized, unless they start the sentence or are part of a proper name.
→ gerecht (adjective) and alle (pronoun) stay lowercase.
So:
- Die Entscheidung ist gerecht für alle. ✅
- Die entscheidung ist Gerecht Für Alle. ❌
You can say Die Entscheidung ist fair für alle, and it is understandable and used in modern German.
However:
- gerecht is the native German word, often with a slightly more formal / legal / moral flavor: “just, equitable, in accordance with justice.”
- fair is a loanword from English, very common in everyday speech and media, sounding a bit more informal or modern.
In serious legal or political contexts, gerecht is more typical; in casual conversation or advertising, fair is very common.