Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder.

My shoes are made of leather.

Breakdown of Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder.

• sein: to be
• mein: my
• der Schuh: the shoe
• aus: of
• das Leder: the leather

Questions & Answers about Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder.

Why is it Meine and not Mein Schuhe?

In German, possessive words like mein work like adjectives and must agree with the noun, not with the speaker.

• The base form is mein.
• Schuhe is plural.
• The sentence uses the nominative plural (they are the subject).

Nominative plural ending for mein is -e → meine.

So:

• Mein Schuh ist… (singular)
• Meine Schuhe sind… (plural)

Why is Schuhe plural? Could I say Mein Schuh ist aus Leder?

You can say Mein Schuh ist aus Leder, but it would refer to only one shoe.

In everyday German, when people talk about footwear, they usually mean the pair, so they use the plural Schuhe (“shoes”):

• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder. = My shoes (the pair) are made of leather.
• Mein Schuh ist aus Leder. = My shoe (one single shoe) is made of leather.

So your original sentence assumes you’re talking about both shoes.

What gender is Schuh, and what is the plural?

• der Schuh = the shoe (masculine, singular)
• die Schuhe = the shoes (plural)

Important forms:

• Nominative singular: der Schuh
• Accusative singular: den Schuh
• Dative singular: dem Schuh
• Plural (all cases for basic use): die Schuhe (article changes with case, but the word stays Schuhe)

Why do we say Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder and not Meine Schuhe sind Leder?

In German, to say something is made of a material, you almost always use aus + material:

• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder. = My shoes are (made) of leather.

Meine Schuhe sind Leder is grammatically possible but sounds very odd and unnatural, like “My shoes are leather (as a substance)” rather than “made of leather.”

So: use “aus Leder” to express the material.

Why is aus used here and not von?

In German:

• aus = “out of / made of” (material, origin, from the inside of something)
• von = “from / by” (source, authorship, possession, movement from a point)

For materials, you use aus:

• aus Holz = made of wood
• aus Metall = made of metal
• aus Leder = made of leather

So aus Leder is the standard way to say “made of leather.” Von Leder would be wrong here.

Why is Leder capitalized?

Because all nouns in German are capitalized.

Leder is a noun meaning “leather”, so it must start with a capital L, even when it appears in the middle of a sentence:

• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder.
• Die Tasche ist aus Leder.

Why is there no article before Leder? Why not aus dem Leder?

Materials in German are usually treated as uncountable nouns and used without an article when you talk about what something is made of:

• aus Leder = (made) of leather
• aus Holz = of wood
• aus Glas = of glass

You would only say aus dem Leder if you meant some specific piece of leather that was previously mentioned, which is rare in normal conversation. For describing general material, no article is used: aus Leder.

What case does aus take, and what case is Leder in?

The preposition aus always takes the dative case.

So in:

• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder.

Leder is in the dative.

However, Leder is a neuter noun (das Leder), and for neuter nouns, the nominative and dative singular look the same (Leder), so you don’t see any change in the form of the word.

Why is it sind and not ist?

The verb must agree with the subject:

• Subject: Meine Schuhe → plural
• Verb: must be plural → sind

Compare:

• Mein Schuh ist aus Leder. (one shoe → ist)
• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder. (more than one shoe → sind)

What is the basic word order in this sentence? Can I move aus Leder?

The basic word order here is:

• Subject – Verb – Predicate / complement
  → Meine Schuhe (subject) sind (verb) aus Leder (complement).

You can move aus Leder for emphasis:

• Aus Leder sind meine Schuhe.

This is still correct. You just move aus Leder to the front; the verb sind must stay in second position, and the subject meine Schuhe goes after the verb.

How do you pronounce Schuhe and Leder?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA and rough English hints):

• Schuhe → /ˈʃuːə/

  • Sch like English “sh” in shoe
  • u like “oo” in boot
  • final -e is a short “uh” sound (not silent)

• Leder → /ˈleːdɐ/

  • e is a long “ay” sound (like in later)
  • d as in English day
  • final -er in standard German is usually like a weak “uh” with a slight r-coloring.

Could I say aus Leder gemacht or aus Leder hergestellt instead?

Yes, but it adds extra wording:

• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder gemacht.
• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder hergestellt.

These are grammatically fine and mean “are made from leather.” However, in everyday speech, aus Leder alone is usually enough and sounds more natural unless you need to emphasize the process of being made.

Is there another way to say this, like with a compound noun?

Yes, German likes compound nouns. You could say:

• Ich habe Lederschuhe. = I have leather shoes.

Here, Leder + Schuhe → Lederschuhe (one word).
The meaning is very close, but:

• Meine Schuhe sind aus Leder. focuses on what your current shoes are made of.
• Ich habe Lederschuhe. focuses more on the type of shoes you own (leather shoes, as a category).