Mein Kaffee ist zu stark.

My coffee is too strong.

Breakdown of Mein Kaffee ist zu stark.

• sein: to be
• mein: my
• der Kaffee: the coffee
• zu: too
• stark: hard

Questions & Answers about Mein Kaffee ist zu stark.

Why is it “Mein Kaffee” and not “Meine Kaffee”?

In German, possessive words like mein, dein, sein, ihr, etc. change their ending to agree with the gender and number of the noun.

• Kaffee is masculine (der Kaffee) and singular.
• In the nominative case (the subject of the sentence), the masculine form of mein is simply mein (no extra ending).

So:

• Mein Kaffee = my coffee (masculine, nominative)
• Meine Tasse = my cup (feminine: die Tasse → meine)
• Mein Glas = my glass (neuter: das Glas → mein)
• Meine Kaffees = my coffees (plural → meine)

That’s why it’s Mein Kaffee, not Meine Kaffee.

How do I know that “Kaffee” is masculine?

You usually have to learn the gender together with the noun:

• der Kaffee (masculine)
• die Milch (feminine)
• das Wasser (neuter)

There are some patterns, but for many nouns (including Kaffee), you simply memorize the gender when you learn the word.

A good habit:

• Don’t learn just Kaffee
• Learn der Kaffee right from the start

Why is “Kaffee” capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they are in the sentence.

• Mein Kaffee ist zu stark.
• Der Kaffee schmeckt gut.
• Ich trinke gern Kaffee.

So Kaffee is capitalized because it is a noun. This is a general rule in German.

Why is there no article like “der” in “Mein Kaffee”?

In German, you normally don’t use a definite or indefinite article (der, die, das, ein, eine) together with a possessive (mein, dein, sein, etc.).

So you say:

• Mein Kaffee (my coffee), not der mein Kaffee
• Dein Auto (your car), not das dein Auto
• Seine Tasche (his bag), not die seine Tasche

The possessive word already does the job of specifying whose coffee it is, so a separate article isn’t used.

Why does “stark” not have an ending, like “starke”?

German adjectives behave differently depending on where they appear:

1. Attributive position (before the noun): they get endings

   • starker Kaffee (strong coffee)
   • ein starker Kaffee (a strong coffee)
   • der starke Kaffee (the strong coffee)

2. Predicate position (after sein/werden/bleiben): no ending

   • Der Kaffee ist stark.
   • Mein Kaffee ist zu stark.

In Mein Kaffee ist zu stark, stark is in predicate position (after ist), so it stays in its base form with no ending.

What exactly does “zu stark” mean? Is it like “very strong”?

No. In German:

• stark = strong
• sehr stark = very strong
• zu stark = too strong (stronger than desired; excessive)

So:

• Mein Kaffee ist stark. → My coffee is strong. (neutral fact)
• Mein Kaffee ist sehr stark. → My coffee is very strong. (intensely strong, but not necessarily a problem)
• Mein Kaffee ist zu stark. → My coffee is too strong. (too strong for my taste / for the situation)

“zu” + adjective expresses that something is more than it should be.

Can “zu” here mean “to” like in English?

No. In Mein Kaffee ist zu stark, zu means “too” (as in too strong), not “to”.

German zu has two common uses:

1. “too” before an adjective/adverb:

   • zu stark = too strong
   • zu schnell = too fast

2. As a preposition or infinitive marker (often translated as “to” in English):

   • Ich gehe zu dir. = I’m going to you / to your place.
   • Ich habe vergessen, Kaffee zu kaufen. = I forgot to buy coffee.

In this sentence, it’s clearly the first use: “too”.

Could I say “Mein Kaffee ist zu viel stark” to say “too strong”?

No. That is not correct in German.

To say “too strong”, German uses “zu” + adjective directly:

• Mein Kaffee ist zu stark.

You don’t add viel in between. Some comparisons:

• zu stark = too strong
• viel zu stark = way too strong / far too strong
  (here viel modifies zu, not the adjective directly)

So:

• ❌ zu viel stark
• ✅ zu stark
• ✅ viel zu stark (if you want to emphasize how excessive it is)

Why is the word order “zu stark” and not “stark zu”?

In German, when you use “zu” in the sense of “too” with an adjective, the correct order is always:

zu + adjective

So you say:

• zu stark (too strong)
• zu klein (too small)
• zu laut (too loud)

You never put zu after the adjective in this structure.
stark zu is not grammatical in this meaning.

How would I say “My coffee is too strong for me”?

You can make this more explicit in German by adding für mich:

• Mein Kaffee ist zu stark für mich.
  = My coffee is too strong for me.

You can also specify other things:

• Mein Kaffee ist zu stark für den Abend.
  My coffee is too strong for the evening.
• Der Kaffee ist zu stark für Kinder.
  The coffee is too strong for children.

Can “stark” also describe people, like someone who is physically strong?

Yes. stark is a general adjective meaning “strong”, and it can be used in many contexts:

• Er ist sehr stark. – He is very strong. (physically)
• Sie ist stark im Matheunterricht. – She is strong in math. (good at math)
• Der Wind ist stark. – The wind is strong.

For coffee, stark usually means:

• high in caffeine / very intense / with a strong taste.

Could I say “Mein Kaffee ist stark genug” instead of “zu stark”?

You could, but it means something different.

• zu stark = too strong (more than desired, negative)
• stark genug = strong enough (sufficiently strong, generally positive or neutral)

Examples:

• Mein Kaffee ist zu stark.
  My coffee is too strong. (I’d prefer it weaker.)

• Mein Kaffee ist stark genug.
  My coffee is strong enough. (It’s as strong as I need/want; no complaint.)