Diese Geschichte ist erfunden.

This story is invented.

Breakdown of Diese Geschichte ist erfunden.

• sein: to be
• diese: this
• die Geschichte: the story
• erfunden: made up

Questions & Answers about Diese Geschichte ist erfunden.

Why is it diese Geschichte and not die Geschichte?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

• die Geschichte ist erfunden = the story is made up (neutral, just stating a fact)
• diese Geschichte ist erfunden = this story is made up (pointing at a specific story, often with a bit more emphasis: “this one (here) is made up”)

Diese is a demonstrative determiner, like this/that, and draws attention to the specific story you’re talking about, maybe contrasting it with others.

Why is it diese and not dieser or dieses?

Because of gender, number, and case:

• Geschichte is feminine.
• It’s singular.
• In this sentence, it is the subject → nominative case.

So you need:
diese (feminine nominative singular) + Geschichte

The relevant forms of dies- in the nominative are:

• masculine: dieser Mann
• feminine: diese Geschichte
• neuter: dieses Buch
• plural: diese Geschichten

What gender is Geschichte, and how can I tell?

Geschichte is feminine: die Geschichte.

You can’t always predict gender from the ending, but some endings are often feminine. Many nouns ending in -e are feminine (though not all). You usually have to learn the noun together with its article:

• die Geschichte (feminine, “story; history”)
• plural: die Geschichten

In this sentence, diese already signals that Geschichte is not masculine or neuter, because then it would be dieser or dieses.

Why is Geschichte capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized.
Geschichte is a noun (“story, history”), so it must start with a capital G.

Adjectives, verbs, and other words are normally not capitalized in the middle of a sentence, so diese, ist, and erfunden stay lowercase.

Does Geschichte mean “story” or “history” here?

It can mean both in general:

• eine Geschichte erzählen – to tell a story
• die Geschichte Deutschlands – the history of Germany

In Diese Geschichte ist erfunden, the natural reading is story:
This story is made up / fictional.

German uses context to distinguish story vs history, just like English does with history vs a history sometimes.

What exactly does erfunden mean? Is it like “invented”?

Erfunden is the past participle of erfinden:

• erfinden – to invent, to make up (a story), to think up
• erfunden – invented / made up

In this sentence, erfunden means made up / not true / fictional, not “invented” in the technical-patent sense. So:

• Diese Geschichte ist erfunden.
  = This story is made up / not true / fictional.

Is ist erfunden a passive form or just “is + adjective”?

It can be analysed in two ways, but the meaning is almost the same:

1. State passive (Zustandspassiv) with sein:

   • Verb: erfinden – to invent
   • Past participle: erfunden
   • Die Geschichte ist erfunden.
     = The story is (in the state of being) invented / made up.

2. Predicate adjective: erfunden used like an adjective meaning “made up”:

   • Die Geschichte ist interessant.
   • Die Geschichte ist erfunden.

In practice, learners can treat ist erfunden here like “is made up” – a description of the story’s nature, not an ongoing action.

Why isn’t it wird erfunden or wurde erfunden?

Those use werden, which often expresses an action passive:

• Die Geschichte wird erfunden.
  = The story is being invented (right now).
• Die Geschichte wurde erfunden.
  = The story was invented (at some time in the past).

But Diese Geschichte ist erfunden. talks about the resulting state (“it’s a made-up story”), not the process of inventing it. That’s why German uses sein + Partizip II (ist erfunden) instead of werden.

Where does the verb go in this sentence? Why is ist in second position?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule:

• The finite verb (here ist) must be in second position in the clause.
• The first position can be the subject or something else (an adverb, object, etc.).

Here:

1. Diese Geschichte – first element
2. ist – finite verb (must be second)
3. erfunden – rest of the predicate

So Diese Geschichte ist erfunden follows the standard V2 word order for statements.

Is erfunden an adjective or a verb form here?

Formally, erfunden is the past participle (Partizip II) of the verb erfinden.

Functionally, in this sentence it behaves like an adjective that describes the noun Geschichte:

• eine erfundene Geschichte – an invented / made-up story
• Diese Geschichte ist erfunden. – This story is made up.

So it’s a verb form used adjectivally (or as part of a state passive). Both views are grammatically valid; for using the language, it’s enough to feel it as “an adjective formed from a verb”.

Can I say Diese Geschichte ist ausgedacht instead of ist erfunden?

Yes, but there is a nuance:

• erfunden – neutral, standard, works in writing and speech.
• ausgedacht – also “made up”, a bit more colloquial / everyday-sounding.

Both are commonly used:

• Diese Geschichte ist erfunden. – This story is made up.
• Diese Geschichte ist ausgedacht. – This story is made up / thought up.

You can also use:

• Diese Geschichte ist fiktiv. – This story is fictional. (more formal / literary)

How would the plural look: “These stories are made up”?

Plural:

• stories → Geschichten
• these → diese (plural nominative)
• are → sind

So:

• Diese Geschichten sind erfunden.
  = These stories are made up.

How do you pronounce Geschichte and erfunden?

Approximate pronunciation (standard German):

• Geschichte: /ɡəˈʃɪçtə/

  • Ge- → like gə
  • -schi- → like shi in “ship” (but shorter)
  • -ch- → a soft “ch” sound (like the German ich-sound, not like English “k”)
  • -te → like tə

• erfunden: /ɛɐ̯ˈfʊndn̩/

  • er- → like air but shorter
  • -fun- → like foon but with u as in “put”
  • -den → the e is very weak, almost just dn

Together, the stress is on -schich- in Geschichte and on -fun- in erfunden:

• Diese GeSCHICHte ist erFUNden.