Breakdown of Ist dir auch kalt, oder ist dir warm?
sein
to be
auch
also
warm
warm
dir
you; (informal singular, dative)
Questions & Answers about Ist dir auch kalt, oder ist dir warm?
Why is it ist dir kalt and not bist du kalt?
In German, feeling cold is usually expressed with an impersonal construction:
- Mir ist kalt. – Literally: To me is cold → I am cold.
Here, kalt describes the situation (the temperature) that affects you, not a permanent quality of you.
If you say Ich bin kalt, this sounds like you are a cold person in character (emotionally cold, unapproachable), or even “frigid” in a sexual sense. So:
- Ist dir kalt? – natural, standard way to ask if you feel cold.
- Bist du kalt? – wrong for physical temperature, and suggests something very different.
Why is dir in the dative case here?