Learn Hardcore German: Das möblierte Zimmer ist schlicht, aber meine Freundin richtet es sehr gemütlich ein. - The furnished room is simple, but my friend is furnishing it very cozily.

German nouns have grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) that usually does not follow logical rules and must be learned with the word. So you learn:

das Zimmer – the room (neuter)
der Tisch – the table (masculine)
die Lampe – the lamp (feminine)

In the sentence, das möblierte Zimmer is the subject in the nominative singular, so you use the nominative neuter definite article das.

Why möblierte Zimmer and not möbliertes Zimmer?

This is about adjective endings.

The pattern here is:

Article: das (nominative, neuter, singular, definite)
Adjective before the noun: möbliert-
Noun: Zimmer

With a definite article (der, die, das, die in plural), the adjective in nominative singular always takes -e:

das möblierte Zimmer (neuter)
der kleine Tisch (masculine)
die neue Lampe (feminine)

So the correct form is:

das möblierte Zimmer (not möbliertes Zimmer in this structure)

You would get möbliertes Zimmer without an article or with certain other determiners:

ein möbliertes Zimmer – a furnished room
möbliertes Zimmer gesucht – furnished room wanted

Here, because we have the definite article das, it must be möblierte.

What exactly does möbliert mean? Is it the same as “decorated” or “furnished”?

möbliert means furnished – the room already has furniture (bed, table, chair, wardrobe, etc.).

Nuances:

möbliert – has the basic necessary furniture.
eingerichtet – arranged/furnished in terms of style and layout; can include decoration and overall “set‑up”.
dekoriert – decorated (pictures, plants, ornaments, etc.), but not necessarily with furniture.

In this sentence:

Das möblierte Zimmer – the room already has furniture.
meine Freundin richtet es sehr gemütlich ein – she is setting it up / arranging it in a cozy way (decoration, arrangement, atmosphere).

Why is schlicht not declined here (no ending like schlichte)?

Because schlicht here is a predicate adjective, not an attributive one.

There are two main uses of adjectives in German:

Attributive (before the noun, with ending)
- das schlichte Zimmer – the plain room
  (adjective gets an ending)
Predicative (after a form of “to be”, “to seem”, etc., without ending)
- Das Zimmer ist schlicht. – The room is plain.
  (no ending)

In the sentence:

Das möblierte Zimmer → attributive adjective möblierte
ist schlicht → predicate adjective schlicht (no ending)

What does schlicht mean, and how is it different from einfach?

schlicht roughly means plain, simple, modest, often with the idea of no decoration, no luxury.

Examples:

ein schlichter Stil – a plain style
eine schlichte Wohnung – a simple, unpretentious flat

einfach is broader and can mean:

simple (not complicated)
just / simply
easy

For a room, saying:

Das Zimmer ist schlicht. – It’s plain / not fancy, minimalistic.
Das Zimmer ist einfach. – Could mean it’s basic, not luxurious, but it can sound more neutral or even slightly “cheap/low standard” depending on context.

Here, schlicht suggests: the room is simple and unadorned, not stylish or cozy yet.

What is going on with richtet … ein? Why is the verb split?

einrichten is a separable verb (trennbares Verb) in German. It consists of:

main verb: richten
separable prefix: ein

In a main clause in the present tense:

the conjugated part (richtet) goes in position 2
the prefix (ein) goes to the end of the clause

So:

meine Freundin richtet es sehr gemütlich ein.
– richtet (2nd position) … ein (at the end)

More examples with einrichten:

Ich richte meine neue Wohnung ein. – I am furnishing/setting up my new apartment.
Wir haben das Büro modern eingerichtet. – We set up the office in a modern way.

In infinitive or participle forms, it’s written together:

das Zimmer einzurichten
gut eingerichtet

Why is it es (richtet es ein) and not ihn or sie?

Because the pronoun refers to das Zimmer, and Zimmer is neuter.

German personal pronouns in the accusative:

ihn – him / it (for masculine nouns, e.g. den Tisch → ihn)
sie – her / it (for feminine nouns, e.g. die Lampe → sie)
es – it (for neuter nouns, e.g. das Zimmer → es)

In the second clause:

meine Freundin – subject (nominative)
es (das Zimmer) – direct object (accusative)

So:

meine Freundin richtet es ein – my (girl)friend is furnishing it
(it = das Zimmer, a neuter noun → es)

What does gemütlich mean? Is it just “comfortable”?

gemütlich is one of those “culture” words that doesn’t translate 1:1.

It means something like:

cozy
homely
warm and pleasant in atmosphere
inviting, comfortable to be in (emotionally and physically)

It’s more about atmosphere and feeling than pure physical comfort.

Compare:

bequem – physically comfortable (a chair, a bed, shoes)
gemütlich – cozy, comfy, nice to relax in (a room, café, evening)

So sie richtet es sehr gemütlich ein means she is arranging/furnishing it so that it becomes very cozy and homely, not just “has a comfortable bed”.

Why doesn’t gemütlich have an ending here? Shouldn’t it be gemütliche?

Here, gemütlich is used like an adverb, not as an adjective directly before a noun.

German often uses the base form of the adjective as an adverb, without any ending:

Sie spricht langsam. – She speaks slowly.
Er arbeitet schnell. – He works quickly.
Sie richtet das Zimmer gemütlich ein. – She is furnishing the room cozily.

You only add endings when the adjective directly modifies a noun:

ein gemütliches Zimmer – a cozy room
eine gemütliche Ecke – a cozy corner

But after a verb to describe how something is done, no ending:

sehr gemütlich einrichten – to furnish very cozily

Why is the word order richtet es sehr gemütlich ein and not richtet es ein sehr gemütlich?

In main clauses with a separable verb (like einrichten), the word order rule is:

Conjugated verb part in 2nd position → richtet
Then objects and adverbials (here: es, sehr gemütlich)
Separable prefix goes at the very end → ein

So the “frame” of the verb is:

richtet … ein

Everything else (pronouns, adverbs, etc.) goes inside that frame, before the prefix:

meine Freundin / richtet / es / sehr gemütlich / ein

You cannot put sehr gemütlich after ein:

❌ richtet es ein sehr gemütlich (wrong)

Does meine Freundin mean “my girlfriend” or “my (female) friend”?

meine Freundin can mean either:

my girlfriend (romantic partner), or
my (female) friend

It depends entirely on context.

Often, in everyday speech:

Freundin without extra hints is understood as girlfriend.
To avoid that and mean “female friend”, people often say:
- eine Freundin von mir – a (female) friend of mine
- meine gute Freundin – my good (female) friend
- or specify: meine Schulfreundin, meine Kollegin, etc.

So in a textbook sentence like this, it’s deliberately ambiguous; both readings are possible.

Why is there a comma before aber, and does aber change the word order?

aber here is a coordinating conjunction meaning “but”.

Comma: In German, you must put a comma between two independent main clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction:
- Das Zimmer ist schlicht, aber meine Freundin richtet es sehr gemütlich ein.
Word order: Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn, sondern) do not change the basic main-clause word order. So after aber you still have:
- subject in first logical position: meine Freundin
- conjugated verb in second position: richtet

Compare:

Das Zimmer ist schlicht, aber meine Freundin richtet es gemütlich ein.
Das Zimmer ist schlicht, aber es gefällt mir.

Subordinating conjunctions (like weil, dass, wenn) do send the verb to the end, but aber is not one of those.

Could you also say Meine Freundin richtet das Zimmer sehr gemütlich ein instead of richtet es … ein?

Yes, you can say:

Meine Freundin richtet das Zimmer sehr gemütlich ein.

Grammatically this is fine and means the same.

Difference in feel:

richtet das Zimmer ein – repeats the noun; neutral if “Zimmer” hasn’t been mentioned.
richtet es ein – uses the pronoun because das Zimmer has already been mentioned and is the obvious topic.

In natural German, once a noun has been introduced, speakers usually switch to a pronoun:

Das Zimmer ist schlicht, aber meine Freundin richtet es sehr gemütlich ein.
(More natural than repeating das Zimmer in the second clause.)