Der Film war erstaunlich gut.

The film was surprisingly good.

Breakdown of Der Film war erstaunlich gut.

• sein: to be
• gut: good
• der Film: the film
• erstaunlich: surprisingly

Questions & Answers about Der Film war erstaunlich gut.

Why is it Der Film and not Das Film or Die Film?

In German every noun has a grammatical gender, and Film happens to be masculine.

• Masculine nouns in the nominative singular take the article der.
• Feminine would use die, neuter would use das.

There is no reliable rule that tells you Film must be masculine; you mostly have to learn the gender with the noun:

• der Film (masc.) – the film
• die Serie (fem.) – the series
• das Programm (neut.) – the program

In the sentence Der Film war erstaunlich gut, Film is the subject (nominative), so the correct article is der.

Why is Film capitalized?

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

• Der Film war erstaunlich gut.
• Ich mag diesen Film.
• Filme können teuer sein.

So Film is capitalized simply because it is a noun. This is a fixed rule of German spelling.

Why is it war and not ist?