Breakdown of Psychologie ist für meine Schwester interessant.
sein
to be
interessant
interesting
für
for
mein
my
Questions & Answers about Psychologie ist für meine Schwester interessant.
Why is there no article before Psychologie? Shouldn’t it be die Psychologie?
In German, fields of study, school subjects, and many abstract ideas are often used without an article when you talk about them in general:
- Psychologie ist interessant. – Psychology is interesting.
- Mathematik ist schwer. – Mathematics is hard.
- Freiheit ist wichtig. – Freedom is important.
You can say die Psychologie when you’re talking about a specific branch or aspect:
- Die Psychologie des Lernens ist interessant. – The psychology of learning is interesting.
In your sentence, it’s the subject in general, so no article is used.
Why is it für meine Schwester and not für meiner Schwester?
Because für always takes the accusative case in German.
So:
- für meine Schwester ✅ (accusative, required by für)
- für meiner Schwester ❌ (dative, wrong after für)
Compare:
- für meinen Bruder (accusative masculine)
- für meine Schwester (accusative feminine)
How can I tell that meine Schwester is accusative here if it looks the same as nominative?