Breakdown of Die Kuh ist laut, aber das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig.
Questions & Answers about Die Kuh ist laut, aber das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig.
In German, every noun has a grammatical gender that you simply have to learn with the word:
- die Kuh – feminine (singular)
- das Schaf – neuter (singular)
- das Huhn – neuter (singular)
There is no general rule that “animals are always X gender.” Some common examples:
- der Hund (dog) – masculine
- die Katze (cat) – feminine
- das Pferd (horse) – neuter
So when you learn a new noun, always learn it together with its article (e.g. die Kuh, not just Kuh).
Here, laut and ruhig are predicate adjectives used with verbs like sein (to be) and bleiben (to stay/remain). Predicate adjectives in German do not take endings:
- Die Kuh ist laut. – The cow is loud.
- Das Schaf bleibt ruhig. – The sheep stays calm.
Adjective endings appear when the adjective comes before a noun (attributive use):
- die laute Kuh – the loud cow
- das ruhige Schaf – the calm/quiet sheep
So:
- After ist/bleibt → laut, ruhig (no endings)
- Before a noun → laute, ruhige, lauten, etc. depending on case, gender, and article.
Because together they form a compound subject:
- Subject: das Schaf und das Huhn (two separate things)
- Verb: bleiben
When you have more than one subject joined by und, the verb is plural:
- Das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig.
(The sheep and the chicken remain calm.)
If there were only one subject, the verb would be singular:
- Das Schaf bleibt ruhig.
- Das Huhn bleibt ruhig.
In German, aber is a coordinating conjunction meaning but. When it connects two main clauses, you must put a comma before it:
- Die Kuh ist laut, aber das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig.
Clause 1: Die Kuh ist laut.
Clause 2: Das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig.
Since both are full main clauses (each has its own subject and verb), the comma is obligatory in standard written German.
Yes, that word order is grammatically possible, but it sounds marked and more literary or emphatic. It puts focus on ruhig bleiben:
- Neutral, everyday order:
Die Kuh ist laut, aber das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig. - Emphatic, unusual order:
Die Kuh ist laut, aber ruhig bleiben das Schaf und das Huhn.
In normal speech and writing, the original order is preferable.
All three can relate to quietness, but they’re not identical:
- ruhig – calm, not agitated; also “quiet” in a more general way
- Das Schaf bleibt ruhig. – It doesn’t panic; it stays calm.
- leise – quiet in terms of volume, not loud
- Sprich bitte leise. – Speak quietly.
- still – very quiet, often almost no sound at all; can also mean “motionless”
- Es ist ganz still im Zimmer. – It is completely silent in the room.
In the sentence, ruhig suggests that the sheep and the chicken are calm and not making a fuss.
In German:
- All nouns are capitalized: die Kuh, das Schaf, das Huhn.
- Adjectives and verbs are not capitalized (unless at the start of a sentence or used as nouns): laut, ruhig, bleiben.
So capitalization here is simply following the standard rule: nouns get a capital letter, adjectives don’t.
Both sein (to be) and bleiben (to remain/stay) can be used with adjectives to describe states:
- sein + adjective – describes a state:
- Die Kuh ist laut. – The cow is (currently) loud.
- bleiben + adjective – emphasizes that the state continues / doesn’t change:
- das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig. – They stay/remain calm; they do not become loud.
So bleiben ruhig highlights that, even though the cow is loud, the other animals do not change their calm state.
Yes, that is grammatically correct, but it changes the meaning slightly:
Die Kuh ist laut, aber das Schaf und das Huhn bleiben ruhig.
→ Refers to specific animals already known in the context (the cow, the sheep, the chicken).Eine Kuh ist laut, aber ein Schaf und ein Huhn bleiben ruhig.
→ More generic: a cow, a sheep, a chicken (not specific ones). It could also be interpreted as talking about some random cow, sheep, and chicken.
So the choice between die/das and eine/ein is about definiteness and context.
They are in the nominative case:
- Die Kuh – subject of ist
- das Schaf und das Huhn – joint subject of bleiben
You can tell because:
- They are subject-like (doing the “being loud” or “remaining calm”).
- The articles are nominative:
- Feminine nominative singular: die Kuh
- Neuter nominative singular: das Schaf, das Huhn
If they were objects, the articles would usually change:
- Ich sehe die Kuh. (accusative feminine looks the same)
- Ich sehe das Schaf. (neuter nominative/accusative are the same form)
In this sentence, subject position plus the verbs ist/bleiben make it clear they’re nominative.
Approximate English-based hints:
- Kuh – [kuː]
- Like “koo” in kook but with a longer u and no final consonant.
- Schaf – [ʃaːf]
- Sch like “sh” in ship
- Long a like in “father”
- Final f is clearly pronounced.
- Huhn – [huːn]
- H is pronounced (a breathy “h”)
- Long u (like “oo” in moon)
- Final n is clear.
- laut – [laʊ̯t]
- Like English “lout” very closely.
- ruhig – common variants [ˈʁuːɪç] or [ˈʁuːɡ] (both heard)
- r is a German r (often in the throat)
- Long u
- Ending can sound like a soft “-ich” or like “-ig” with a soft g.
These are approximations; listening to native audio is the best way to nail the sounds.