Word
Die Krawatte ist passend zum Anzug.
Meaning
The tie is suitable for the suit.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Die Krawatte ist passend zum Anzug.
sein
to be
zum
to the; (masculine, dative)
der Anzug
the suit
die Krawatte
the tie
Questions & Answers about Die Krawatte ist passend zum Anzug.
Why is it zum Anzug and not für den Anzug?
Both zu and für can be translated as for in English, but they’re used differently.
- zu (here in zum) often means goes with / matches / is combined with.
- Die Krawatte passt zum Anzug. → The tie matches the suit.
- für usually means intended for / meant for / on behalf of.
- Eine Krawatte für den Anzug kaufen → to buy a tie for the suit.
In this sentence you’re talking about how well the tie matches the suit, so zu is the natural choice, not für.
What exactly is zum here?
zum is a contraction of zu dem:
- zu = preposition that always takes the dative case.
- dem = dative singular of the masculine article der.
Since Anzug is masculine (der Anzug) and follows zu, it becomes zu dem Anzug → zum Anzug.
What part of speech is passend here, and why do we need ist?