Log inSign up

Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.

Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.
My sister finds biology interesting.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning German now

Questions & Answers about Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.

Why is it Meine Schwester and not Mein Schwester?

Because Schwester is a feminine noun and it’s the subject of the sentence (nominative case).

The possessive determiner mein- changes its ending depending on gender (and case):

  • mein Bruder (my brother – masculine)
  • meine Schwester (my sister – feminine)
  • mein Kind (my child – neuter)
  • meine Schwestern (my sisters – plural)

So with a feminine noun in the nominative case you use meine, not mein.

What case are Meine Schwester and Biologie in?
  • Meine Schwester is the subject, so it’s in the nominative case.
  • Biologie is the direct object (the thing she finds interesting), so it’s in the accusative case.

Pattern:

  • Wer? / Was? (Who/what is doing something?) → nominative
    → Meine Schwester findet …
  • Wen? / Was? (Whom/what does she find?) → accusative
    → … findet Biologie interessant.

For feminine singular nouns like Biologie, nominative and accusative look the same (both die Biologie), which can be confusing at first. The function in the sentence tells you the case.

Why does Biologie have no article? Why not die Biologie?

When you talk about a school subject or a field of study in general, German often uses no article:

  • Ich mag Biologie und Chemie. – I like biology and chemistry.
  • Sie studiert Medizin. – She studies medicine.

Using die Biologie is possible, but it makes it sound more like:

  • the academic discipline as a field (e.g. “Biology as a science”),
  • a more specific, defined concept:
    Die Biologie des Menschen ist kompliziert. – The biology of humans is complicated.

In Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant, we’re talking about the school subject in general, so no article is more natural.

Why is Biologie capitalized?

Because all nouns are capitalized in German.

  • Schwester – noun → capitalized
  • Biologie – noun → capitalized

This is true even for abstract things and subjects:

  • Liebe, Freiheit, Mathematik, Biologie

The capital M in Meine is just because it is the first word in the sentence; normally the word is written meine.

What exactly does finden mean here? It doesn’t sound like “to find” in English.

In German, finden has two common meanings:

  1. to find (physically locate something)

    • Ich finde meinen Schlüssel nicht. – I can’t find my key.

  2. to think / to consider / to have an opinion about something

    • Ich finde das Buch gut. – I think the book is good / I find the book good.
    • Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant. – My sister finds biology interesting.

In this sentence, finden means “to consider” / “to think (of something as)”.

Compare:

  • Ich denke, Biologie ist interessant. – I think biology is interesting.
  • Ich finde Biologie interessant. – I find biology interesting / I think biology is interesting.

The structure with finden is:
jemand + findet + etwas + Adjektiv
(someone finds something adjective).

How is finden conjugated, and why do we use findet here?

The infinitive is finden. In the present tense:

  • ich finde
  • du findest
  • er/sie/es findet
  • wir finden
  • ihr findet
  • sie/Sie finden

The subject is meine Schwester → 3rd person singular (sie).
So we use findet:

  • Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.

Also, in normal main clauses the finite verb (the conjugated part) must be in second position (the V2 rule):

  • [Meine Schwester] (position 1) [findet] (position 2) Biologie interessant.
Why is interessant at the very end of the sentence?

The basic word order for this pattern is:

Subject – verb – object – adjective

So:

  • Subject: Meine Schwester
  • Verb: findet
  • Object: Biologie
  • Adjective (opinion about the object): interessant

→ Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.

German very often puts describing words (like adjectives, participles, adverbs) late in the sentence, especially after the object:

  • Sie findet das Buch spannend. – She finds the book exciting.
  • Ich finde diese Übung schwierig. – I find this exercise difficult.

You can sometimes move elements for emphasis, but interessant naturally sits at the end here.

Why is it interessant and not interessiert?

German makes the same distinction as English between:

  • interessant = interesting
  • interessiert = interested

In the sentence, Biologie is the thing that is interesting, not the one that is interested:

  • Biologie ist interessant. – Biology is interesting.
  • Meine Schwester ist an Biologie interessiert. – My sister is interested in biology.

So:

  • Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.
    = She thinks biology is interesting.

If you said:

  • Biologie ist interessiert.
    this would mean “Biology is interested” – which doesn’t make sense.
Why doesn’t interessant have an ending, like interessante or interessanten?

German adjectives behave differently depending on where they stand:

  1. Before a noun (attributive) → they take endings:

    • ein interessantes Fach – an interesting subject
    • die interessante Vorlesung – the interesting lecture
    • interessante Bücher – interesting books

  2. After verbs like sein, werden, bleiben, finden (predicative) → no endings:

    • Biologie ist interessant. – Biology is interesting.
    • Ich finde Biologie interessant. – I find biology interesting.
    • Das bleibt schwierig. – That remains difficult.

In Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant, the adjective is predicative, describing Biologie after the verb finden, so it stays in the base form interessant, without an ending.

What gender are Schwester and Biologie, and is there any pattern?

Both are feminine:

  • die Schwester – the sister
  • die Biologie – biology

Some patterns that often (but not always) indicate feminine gender:

  • Many nouns ending in -e:
    die Blume, die Schule, die Lampe, die Schwester
    (but there are exceptions like der Name, der Käse)
  • Many abstract nouns ending in -ie:
    die Biologie, die Demokratie, die Energie, die Industrie

These are tendencies, not 100% rules, so it’s still important to learn the gender with each noun:

  • die Schwester
  • die Biologie
Can I change the word order, like Biologie findet meine Schwester interessant?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct, but it changes the emphasis.

  1. Neutral, normal emphasis:

    • Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.
      → Focus is on what your sister thinks.

  2. With the object at the front:

    • Biologie findet meine Schwester interessant.
      → Still “My sister finds biology interesting,”
      but now Biologie is emphasized (contrast, e.g. “Biology, she finds interesting, but physics she hates”).

In both cases, the finite verb (findet) must be in second position:

  • [Meine Schwester] (1) findet (2) …
  • [Biologie] (1) findet (2) …

So you can move parts around for focus, but the main “neutral” version is the original sentence.

How do you pronounce Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant?

Approximate IPA (Standard German):

  • Meine – /ˈmaɪ̯nə/
  • Schwester – /ˈʃvɛstɐ/
  • findet – /ˈfɪndət/
  • Biologie – /bi̯oloˈgiː/
  • interessant – /ɪntəʁeˈzant/ (often with stress on the last syllable)

Put together:

  • Meine Schwester findet Biologie interessant.
    → /ˈmaɪ̯nə ˈʃvɛstɐ ˈfɪndət bi̯oloˈgiː ɪntəʁeˈzant/

A few tips:

  • schw- in Schwester is like English “shv”.
  • ie in Biologie is a long “ee” sound.
  • Final -t in interessant is clearly pronounced, unlike some English final consonants which can be weaker.