Questions & Answers about Die Entscheidung ist endgültig.
In German, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine (der), feminine (die), or neuter (das).
- Entscheidung is grammatically feminine, so it always takes die in the nominative singular: die Entscheidung.
- You simply have to learn the gender of each noun. A dictionary will show it as something like die Entscheidung, -en.
In other cases the article changes, but the gender stays feminine:
- Nominative: die Entscheidung ist endgültig – the decision is final
- Accusative: Ich akzeptiere die Entscheidung – I accept the decision
- Dative: Mit der Entscheidung bin ich nicht einverstanden – I don’t agree with the decision
- Genitive: wegen der Entscheidung – because of the decision
In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.
- Entscheidung is a noun, so it must be written with a capital E: Entscheidung, not entscheidung.
This rule applies even if the noun is in the middle of the sentence:
- Ich respektiere deine Entscheidung.
- Diese Entscheidung ist schwierig.
Yes. Entscheidung is the noun formed from the verb (sich) entscheiden (to decide).
- Verb: (sich) entscheiden – to decide
- Noun: die Entscheidung – the decision
This pattern (verb → noun ending in -ung) is very common:
- entscheiden → die Entscheidung (to decide → the decision)
- bedeuten → die Bedeutung (to mean → the meaning)
- bewegen → die Bewegung (to move → the movement)
Die Entscheidung is the subject of the sentence. The structure is:
- Die Entscheidung (subject, nominative)
- ist (verb sein, 3rd person singular)
- endgültig (predicate adjective / predicative complement)
So grammatically it’s:
Subject – Verb – Predicative complement.
Here, endgültig is an adjective used predicatively (as part of the predicate with sein).
Attributive use (before a noun, with ending):
- die endgültige Entscheidung – the final decision
Predicative use (after sein, werden, bleiben, without ending):
- Die Entscheidung ist endgültig. – The decision is final.
So in your sentence it’s an adjective, but it does not take an ending because it’s used after the verb sein.
In German:
Adjectives before a noun take an ending:
- eine endgültige Entscheidung – a final decision
Adjectives after “sein/werden/bleiben” do not take an ending:
- Die Entscheidung ist endgültig. – The decision is final.
So since endgültig comes after the verb ist and describes the subject, it appears in its basic form without any ending.
Endgültig means final, definitive, not to be changed. It strongly implies no further changes are possible.
Nuance in German:
- endgültig – definite, conclusive, the matter is settled.
- Die Entscheidung ist endgültig. – The decision won’t be changed.
- A weaker way would be something like:
- vorläufig – preliminary, for now
- nicht endgültig – not final
So endgültig is quite strong: it says that the process of deciding is finished and closed.
No. That would be incorrect.
- After sein (and also werden, bleiben), adjectives in German do not take endings:
- ✅ Die Entscheidung ist endgültig.
- ❌ Die Entscheidung ist endgültige.
You only add endings when the adjective is directly before a noun:
- ✅ die endgültige Entscheidung – the final decision
- ✅ eine endgültige Entscheidung – a final decision
Yes, that is grammatically correct, but it sounds more emphatic and marked.
- Die Entscheidung ist endgültig.
- Neutral, standard word order (subject first).
- Endgültig ist die Entscheidung.
- Emphasizes endgültig – something like: Final – that’s what the decision is.
This is used for stylistic effect, for emphasis, or in written/poetic language. In everyday speech you’ll most often hear the neutral order.
Approximate pronunciation (using English-like hints):
Entscheidung: [ENT-shy-dung]
- Ent- like “ent” in enter
- -schei-: sch like “sh” in ship
- ei like “eye”
- -dung: u like “oo” in book (not as long as boot), ng as in sing
endgültig: [ent-GUEL-tig]
- end- as in English end
- -gült-: ü is a fronted vowel, somewhere between ee in see and oo in soon (like French u in lune)
- -ig: in many accents like “ich” sound [ɪç], so more like -ich
More IPA-like:
- Entscheidung – [ɛntˈʃaɪ̯dʊŋ]
- endgültig – [ʔɛntˈɡʏltɪç]
Both can often be translated as “The decision is final,” but the focus is slightly different:
Die Entscheidung ist endgültig.
- Focus: finality – it will not be changed.
- Nuance: emphasizes that no further discussion or modification is possible.
Die Entscheidung steht fest. (literally: the decision stands firm)
- Focus: fixedness – the decision has been made and is firm.
- It doesn’t explicitly say “cannot be changed,” but it strongly suggests that it won’t.
In many situations they’re interchangeable; endgültig sounds a bit more absolute.
No, that would be wrong in standard German.
With singular countable nouns like Entscheidung, you normally must use an article (or another determiner):
- ✅ Die Entscheidung ist endgültig.
- ✅ Diese Entscheidung ist endgültig. – This decision is final.
- ❌ Entscheidung ist endgültig.
Dropping the article is possible in some headlines or note-style language, but in normal sentences you should keep it.
Yes, ist is present tense (3rd person singular of sein). It states the current status of the decision.
You could change the tense to change the time frame:
- Die Entscheidung war endgültig.
- The decision was final (in the past).
- Die Entscheidung ist endgültig gewesen.
- Present perfect, more formal/rare here; used if you focus on the fact that at some earlier point it became final.
In most normal contexts you just use ist endgültig to say that now the decision is final.