Heute ist das Wetter schön.

to be

Breakdown of Heute ist das Wetter schön.

• heute: today
• das Wetter: the weather
• schön: pretty

Questions & Answers about Heute ist das Wetter schön.

Why does the sentence start with Heute instead of Das Wetter?

German has flexible word order, but the finite verb must usually be in the second position in a main clause (V2 rule). Almost any one element can stand in the first position for emphasis.

• Heute ist das Wetter schön. – Emphasizes today (as opposed to some other day).
• Das Wetter ist heute schön. – Emphasizes the weather (as opposed to something else).

Both are correct. The choice is mostly about what you want to highlight. In spoken German, Heute ist das Wetter schön sounds like “Today, the weather is nice,” with a slight contrast to other days.

Why is it das Wetter and not die Wetter or something else?

In German, every noun has a grammatical gender. Wetter is:

• neuter (das)
• singular (there is no common plural use in this meaning)
• a noun, so it is capitalized: Wetter

So you must say das Wetter, not die Wetter.
In this sentence, das Wetter is the subject of the verb ist, so it stands in the nominative case:

• das Wetter – nominative singular, neuter

Why is schön not schöne or schönes here?