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Learn Hardcore German: Die Blase im Glas ist klein. - The bubble in the glass is small.

Hardcore German
/Lesson 88
/Die Blase im Glas ist klein.

Die Blase im Glas ist klein.

Word

Die Blase im Glas ist klein.

Meaning

The bubble in the glass is small.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore German

Lesson

Breakdown of Die Blase im Glas ist klein.

in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)

Questions & Answers about Die Blase im Glas ist klein.

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

In German, every noun has a grammatical gender that you usually just have to learn with the word:

die Blase – feminine (singular nominative)
der Blase – would be feminine but in dative or genitive, not nominative
das Blase – is simply wrong

In this sentence, Die Blase is the subject and is in the nominative case, so we use the basic feminine article die.

What exactly is im? Is it one word or two words?

Im is a contraction of two words:

in (preposition “in”)
dem (dative singular article for masculine or neuter nouns)

So:

in dem Glas → im Glas

This contraction is very common and usually sounds more natural than saying in dem Glas in everyday speech.

Why is it im Glas and not in das Glas?

German uses different cases with in, depending on the meaning:

in + dative → location (where something is)
- im Glas (in dem Glas) = “in the glass” (location)
in + accusative → direction (movement into something)

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in das Glas = “into the glass” (movement towards the inside)

In your sentence, the bubble is located inside the glass (no movement), so im Glas (dative) is correct.

What case is Glas in, and why?

Glas is in the dative case here, because the preposition in (contracted as im) is used to indicate location:

Preposition: in
Meaning: location (“in the glass”)
Case: dative
Noun: das Glas → dative singular dem Glas → contracted to im Glas

So im Glas = in dem Glas (dative).

Why is Glas capitalized?

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

die Blase – noun → capital Blase
das Glas – noun → capital Glas
ist and klein – verb/adjective → not capitalized (unless at the beginning of a sentence)

So Glas is capitalized simply because it is a noun.

Why is it klein and not kleine or kleines?

Here klein is a predicate adjective – it comes after the verb sein (ist) and describes the subject:

Die Blase … ist klein.

Predicate adjectives in German do not get endings. They stay in their basic dictionary form:

Die Blase ist klein.
Das Glas ist leer.
Die Kinder sind müde.

Adjective endings like -e, -en, -es appear when the adjective stands before the noun:

die kleine Blase (attributive adjective, gets an ending)
die Blase ist klein (predicate adjective, no ending)

What is the basic word order in this sentence, and can I change it?

The basic word order is:

Subject: Die Blase
Prepositional phrase: im Glas
Verb: ist
Predicate adjective: klein

So: Die Blase im Glas ist klein.

This follows the German rule that the finite verb must be in the second position in a main clause (the “V2 rule”).

You can change what comes first, but the conjugated verb must stay in second position. For example:

Im Glas ist die Blase klein.
(Prepositional phrase first, verb second, subject third.)
This is grammatically correct, but sounds a bit more marked/emphatic.

Which parts of the sentence are the subject and the verb?

Subject: Die Blase im Glas (the whole noun phrase, including im Glas as extra information)
Verb: ist (3rd person singular form of sein, “to be”)

So the subject is one thing (the bubble in the glass), and the verb ist is singular to agree with it.

How would the sentence change if there were several bubbles?

You need to make both the noun and the verb plural:

Singular: Die Blase im Glas ist klein.
→ “The bubble in the glass is small.”
Plural: Die Blasen im Glas sind klein.
→ “The bubbles in the glass are small.”

Changes:

Blase → Blasen (plural noun)
ist → sind (3rd person plural of sein)

Why doesn’t German say Es gibt eine kleine Blase im Glas here?

Both are possible, but they do different things:

Die Blase im Glas ist klein.
Describes a specific bubble and tells us its quality (size). Focus: description.
Es gibt eine kleine Blase im Glas.
Literally “There is a small bubble in the glass.” This introduces the existence of a bubble. Focus: existence/appearance.

So:

If you’re describing a bubble you both know about:
→ Die Blase im Glas ist klein.
If you’re introducing the fact that there is a bubble:
→ Es gibt eine kleine Blase im Glas.

Does Blase always mean “bubble”?

No, Blase has several meanings, depending on context:

bubble – e.g. Luftblase, Seifenblase
(urinary) bladder – Harnblase
blister on skin – eine Blase am Fuß
figurative “bubble” – Finanzblase (financial bubble)

In Die Blase im Glas ist klein., the context “in the glass” makes “bubble” the natural interpretation.

How do you pronounce Blase and Glas?

Blase: BLAH-zeh
- Bla- like “blah”
- -se pronounced like -ze, with a voiced z sound
- final -e is a short unstressed sound, like the a in “sofa”
Glas: Glaahs
- long a sound, similar to “glahs”
- final s is voiceless s (like in English “glass”)

So you have:

Die Blase im Glas ist klein.
→ /di ˈblaːzə ɪm glaːs ɪst klaɪn/

Can I say die kleine Blase im Glas instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can use klein in front of the noun:

die kleine Blase im Glas – “the small bubble in the glass”

Difference:

die kleine Blase – attributive adjective (comes before the noun, takes an ending)
die Blase ist klein – predicate adjective (comes after sein, no ending)

You can combine both in a fuller sentence:

Die kleine Blase im Glas ist klein.
(A bit redundant, but grammatically correct.)

More natural would be to choose one:

Die kleine Blase im Glas ist geplatzt. (using kleine before the noun)
Die Blase im Glas ist klein. (using klein after the verb)

Could you omit im Glas and still have a correct sentence?

Yes:

Die Blase ist klein. – “The bubble is small.”

This is grammatically correct, but less specific. You lose the information about where the bubble is. The version with im Glas simply adds location detail:

Die Blase im Glas ist klein. – “The bubble in the glass is small.”

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