Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut.

The tea of course tastes good.

Breakdown of Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut.

• gut: good
• schmecken: to taste
• der Tee: the tea
• natürlich: natural

Questions & Answers about Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut.

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

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

• der = masculine
• die = feminine
• das = neuter

Tee happens to be masculine, so the correct definite article in the nominative singular is der: der Tee.

This is not about the real-world “gender” of tea; it’s just a grammatical property. When you look up Tee in a dictionary, you’ll see it written as der Tee, which tells you its gender.

Also note that all nouns in German are capitalized, so Tee must start with a capital T.

What case is Der Tee in here?

Der Tee is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

For a masculine noun like Tee, the definite article in the nominative is der. Compare the masculine definite article in other cases for contrast:

• Nominative: der Tee (subject) – Der Tee schmeckt gut.
• Accusative: den Tee (direct object) – Ich trinke den Tee.
• Dative: dem Tee (indirect object) – Ich gebe dem Tee Zucker.
• Genitive: des Tees (possessive) – Der Geschmack des Tees ist mild.

In your sentence, since Tee is doing the “tasting” (grammatically speaking), it’s nominative: Der Tee.

Why is the verb schmeckt in second position? I thought German word order is flexible.

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the finite verb (the conjugated verb) must be in second position in the clause.

In Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut. the positions are:

1. Der Tee – first element (subject phrase)
2. schmeckt – finite verb (must be in second position)
3. natürlich gut – “middle field” / rest of the sentence

So even though German allows some flexibility in where you put adverbs and other parts, the conjugated verb almost always stays in the second slot in a main clause.

If you move another element to the front, the verb still has to stay second:

• Natürlich schmeckt der Tee gut.
  
  • 1: Natürlich
  • 2: schmeckt
  • 3: der Tee gut

What exactly does schmeckt mean here, and how is it different from ist (Der Tee ist gut)?

schmecken means “to taste” (in the sense of having a certain flavor).

• Der Tee schmeckt gut. = The tea tastes good (its flavor is good).
• Der Tee ist gut. = The tea is good (more general: quality, freshness, etc.; not focused strictly on taste).

schmecken is a so‑called linking verb here, connecting the subject (Der Tee) with a description (gut). It’s similar to English “tastes” in “The tea tastes good.”

You’ll also see schmecken with a person in the dative:

• Der Tee schmeckt mir gut. = I like the taste of the tea. (literally: The tea tastes good to me.)

In your sentence, Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut., the focus is specifically on how the tea tastes, not on all possible qualities of the tea.

Why is natürlich in the middle, and what does it mean here? “Naturally” or “of course”?

natürlich can mean two main things:

1. “of course” / “obviously” (modal particle/adverb)
2. “natural(ly)” in the sense of “not artificial” or “in a natural way”

In Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut., it most likely means “of course”:

• Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut. = The tea tastes good, of course.

If it were meant as “naturally good” (i.e. its good taste is natural, maybe without sugar or additives), the sentence would rely heavily on spoken stress:

• Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut. (stress on natürlich)
  → “The tea tastes naturally good.”

But in everyday usage, without special emphasis, natürlich in this position is usually understood as “of course”.

Position-wise, natürlich is an adverb and belongs in the “middle field” of the sentence. Other natural positions are:

• Natürlich schmeckt der Tee gut. (fronted → “Of course the tea tastes good.”)
• Der Tee schmeckt gut, natürlich. (tag at the end → “The tea tastes good, of course.”)

Can natürlich change its form like adjectives do? Why is it not something like natürliche here?

In Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut., natürlich is an adverb, not an attributive adjective, so it does not change its ending.

• Attributive adjective (before a noun, gets endings):

  • Der natürliche Tee schmeckt gut. – natural tea
    
    • natürliche changes form: natürlicher Tee, einen natürlichen Tee, etc.

• Adverb (modifying the verb or the whole sentence, no endings):

  • Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut. – of course / naturally, the tea tastes good.

So here, natürlich is invariable because it’s not describing a noun, but rather the situation or the statement.

Why is gut at the end of the sentence?

In German, the predicate adjective (the adjective that comes after a linking verb like sein, werden, scheinen, schmecken) normally stands after the verb and often ends up near the end of the clause.

The structure is:

• Der Tee (subject)
• schmeckt (verb)
• natürlich (adverb)
• gut (predicate adjective / complement of the verb)

So gut is where it is because:

1. It’s the adjective that completes the meaning of schmecken.
2. German tends to place this kind of complement toward the right side of the clause.

Also note: as a predicate adjective, gut does not take endings:

• Der Tee ist gut.
• Der Tee schmeckt gut.

It stays gut, not guter/guten, because it’s not directly before a noun.

Could I also say Natürlich schmeckt der Tee gut. or Der Tee schmeckt gut, natürlich.? Do they mean the same thing?

All three are grammatically correct, but the emphasis changes slightly:

1. Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut.

   • Neutral basic order.
   • natürlich is interpreted as an adverb meaning “of course”.
   • Statement: “The tea tastes good, of course.”

2. Natürlich schmeckt der Tee gut.

   • natürlich is in the first position, so it’s strongly emphasized.
   • This sounds like you are replying to someone who doubted it:
     • “Of course the tea tastes good!”

3. Der Tee schmeckt gut, natürlich.

   • natürlich is a kind of “tag” at the end.
   • Very similar to English: “The tea tastes good, of course.”
   • Feels a bit more conversational.

Meaning-wise they’re very close; the main difference is which part you highlight and how insistent or casual you sound.

How would I negate this sentence? Where does nicht go?

To negate Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut., you generally put nicht before the part you’re negating. The natural full negation of “tastes good” is:

• Der Tee schmeckt natürlich nicht gut.
  → “Of course, the tea does not taste good.” / “The tea, of course, doesn’t taste good.”

Typical patterns:

• Negating the adjective gut (the taste-quality):
  • Der Tee schmeckt nicht gut.
  • Der Tee schmeckt natürlich nicht gut.

If you want to sound like you’re correcting the “of course” idea, you can move the adverbs:

• Der Tee schmeckt nicht natürlich gut.
  → “The tea doesn’t taste naturally good.” (i.e. you’re questioning the “naturally” part, not the “good” part.)

For a simple “The tea doesn’t taste good,” use:

• Der Tee schmeckt (natürlich) nicht gut.

Can I drop gut and just say Der Tee schmeckt.?

You can say Der Tee schmeckt., and it’s understandable, but it has a slightly different feel.

• Der Tee schmeckt.
  Literally: “The tea tastes.”
  Idiomatically: “The tea tastes good / is tasty.”
  This is a bit more colloquial; it often implies “It tastes good” by context.

• Der Tee schmeckt gut.
  Explicitly: “The tea tastes good.”

For learners, it’s safer and clearer to include the adjective:

• Der Tee schmeckt gut.
• Der Tee schmeckt wirklich gut.
• Der Tee schmeckt sehr gut.

Using schmeckt without an adjective is okay in informal contexts, but it relies more on shared context and tone.

How do I pronounce each word in Der Tee schmeckt natürlich gut?

Approximate pronunciations (using English-like hints):

• Der – like dare (but with a shorter vowel; German r is often a bit softer/“in the throat”).
• Tee – like English tay or the vowel in say, but held a bit longer: [teː].
• schmeckt – sch like sh in ship; meck like meck in wreck but with e as in bed; t at the end is clearly pronounced. So roughly: sh-mekt.
• natürlich – na- like nah; tür like tyr with ü (rounded version of the ee sound; lips rounded like oo but tongue like ee); -lich like lish but with the German ch at the end (not a “k”); roughly: na-TUER-likh.
• gut – like English goot, but with a shorter u than in English food: [guːt].

Key points:

• Tee has a long “e” sound.
• Final consonants (t, k, d, g) are pronounced clearly and unvoiced in German, so the -ckt in schmeckt is fully articulated.
• The ü in natürlich has no exact English equivalent; think of ee in see while rounding your lips as for oo in too.

Is schmecken always used with food and drink, or can it be used more generally?

schmecken is primarily used with things you can taste:

• Der Tee schmeckt gut. – The tea tastes good.
• Die Suppe schmeckt salzig. – The soup tastes salty.
• Der Kuchen schmeckt fantastisch. – The cake tastes fantastic.

It can also be used figuratively or in fixed expressions, often with a person in the dative:

• Das schmeckt mir nicht. – I don’t like that (taste).
• Der Wein schmeckt ihm. – He likes the wine (its taste).

Unlike English “to taste”, you do not normally use schmecken to mean “to try something by tasting it” (that’s usually probieren or kosten):

• Probier den Tee mal. – Try the tea.
• Kosten Sie den Wein. – Taste the wine.