Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.

The difficulty makes the exercise interesting.

Breakdown of Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.

• interessant: interesting
• machen: to make
• die Übung: the exercise
• die Schwierigkeit: the difficulty

Questions & Answers about Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.

Why do both Schwierigkeit and Übung use the article die?

Because both nouns are feminine and singular.

• die Schwierigkeit = the difficulty (feminine, singular, nominative)
• die Übung = the exercise (feminine, singular, accusative)

In this sentence:

• die Schwierigkeit is the subject → nominative case
• die Übung is the direct object → accusative case

For feminine nouns, nominative singular and accusative singular both use die, so they look the same. The function (subject vs. object) is shown by position and verb agreement, not by a different article form here.

How do I know which noun is the subject and which is the object?

In Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.:

• The subject is the thing doing the action of the verb machen.
• The object is the thing being affected by the action.

So:

• die Schwierigkeit (the difficulty) is doing the “making” → subject (nominative)
• die Übung (the exercise) is what gets made interesting → direct object (accusative)

You can test this by switching to English word order:

• The difficulty makes the exercise interesting.

The one that matches the difficulty in English is the subject; the one that matches the exercise is the object.

Why is the verb macht and not something else like machen or mache?

machen is the infinitive (to make, to do).
The subject here is die Schwierigkeit:

• Schwierigkeit is 3rd person singular (like sie = she/it).

The present tense of machen:

• ich mache
• du machst
• er/sie/es macht
• wir machen
• ihr macht
• sie/Sie machen

So with die Schwierigkeit (3rd person singular), you must use macht:

• Die Schwierigkeit macht … = The difficulty makes …

Why is interessant not interessante, interessanten, etc.?

interessant here is a predicate adjective (it comes after the verb and describes the object), not an attributive adjective (which would come directly in front of the noun).

• Predicate position (after a verb like sein, werden, machen in this type of structure):

  • Die Übung ist interessant. → interessant (no ending)
  • Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.

• Attributive position (directly before a noun, takes endings):

  • die interessante Übung
  • eine interessante Übung
  • mit einer interessanten Übung

So: after macht and describing die Übung, interessant stays in its base form, with no adjectival ending.

Could I also say Die Schwierigkeit macht die interessante Übung?

You could grammatically form that phrase, but it would be incomplete and odd:

• Die Schwierigkeit macht die interessante Übung …
  This sounds like: The difficulty makes the interesting exercise … — and the listener waits for what it makes the exercise (e.g. easier, pointless, etc.).

You need something that says what the difficulty makes the exercise, e.g.:

• Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.
• Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung spannender. (more exciting)

If you say die interessante Übung, you are simply characterizing the exercise as already interesting, independently of the difficulty:

• Die interessante Übung ist schwer.
  The interesting exercise is difficult.

So:

• macht die Übung interessant = the difficulty is what makes it interesting.
• die interessante Übung = it is already considered interesting; the adjective is not caused by anything in the sentence.

Why is it die Übung and not der Übung? Shouldn’t there be dative?

The verb machen in this structure takes a direct object (accusative), not a dative object:

• jemand macht etwas interessant
  someone makes something interesting

Case pattern here:

• Subjekt (Nominativ): die Schwierigkeit
• Akkusativobjekt: die Übung
• Prädikativ (adjective describing the object): interessant

So it must be die Übung (accusative singular, feminine), not der Übung (dative singular, feminine).

You would get dative if the verb or preposition demanded it, for example:

• Mit der Schwierigkeit wird die Übung interessant.
  Here mit forces der Schwierigkeit (dative).

Can I change the word order to Die Übung macht die Schwierigkeit interessant?

Grammatically, yes, but the meaning changes:

• Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.
  The difficulty is what makes the exercise interesting.

• Die Übung macht die Schwierigkeit interessant.
  Now the exercise is what makes the difficulty interesting.

The subject is always the one whose verb form the verb agrees with: here, both die Schwierigkeit and die Übung are 3rd person singular feminine, so macht fits both. Word order at the start of a simple statement usually tells you which one is taken as subject:

• First noun phrase → normally the subject
• Second noun phrase → normally the object

So you can switch them, but then you are literally saying something different.

Could I also express this as Die Übung wird durch die Schwierigkeit interessant? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

• Die Übung wird durch die Schwierigkeit interessant.
  The exercise becomes interesting through the difficulty.

This version:

• Uses werden (to become) → focuses on a change of state.
• Uses durch
  • accusative (durch die Schwierigkeit) to express the cause.

The original:

• Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übung interessant.

This version:

• Uses machen (to make) → emphasizes the agent (the difficulty actively causes the interesting quality).
• Has a clearer “cause-effect” structure: cause (subject)
  • verb
    • effect on object.

Both are natural and similar in meaning; machen sounds a bit more direct and causal, werden … durch a bit more descriptive of the resulting state.

How would this sentence look in the plural?

Two common plural variants:

1. Plural difficulties, singular exercise:

   • Die Schwierigkeiten machen die Übung interessant.
     The difficulties make the exercise interesting.

   Changes:

   • Schwierigkeiten (plural) → verb becomes machen (3rd person plural).

2. Singular difficulty, plural exercises:

   • Die Schwierigkeit macht die Übungen interessant.
     The difficulty makes the exercises interesting.

   Changes:

   • Übungen (plural) → article still die (nominative/accusative plural feminine),
     but the verb stays macht, because the subject die Schwierigkeit is still singular.

Adjective interessant stays the same, because it is still a predicate adjective with no ending.

Is there anything special about the pattern etwas macht etwas + Adjektiv in German?

Yes, it is a very productive and useful pattern:

• etwas macht etwas + Adjektiv
  something makes something + adjective

Examples:

• Die Aufgabe macht mich nervös.
  The task makes me nervous.

• Das Wetter macht ihn müde.
  The weather makes him tired.

• Das macht die Entscheidung schwer.
  That makes the decision difficult.

The structure is the same as in your sentence:

• Die Schwierigkeit (subject)
• macht (verb)
• die Übung (accusative object)
• interessant (adjective describing the object)

Remember: in this pattern, the adjective is always in its base form (no ending).