Die Note ist befriedigend.

to be

Breakdown of Die Note ist befriedigend.

• die Note: the grade
• befriedigend: satisfying

Questions & Answers about Die Note ist befriedigend.

Why is it die Note and not der Note or das Note?

In German every noun has a fixed grammatical gender that you just have to learn.

• Note (meaning grade/mark or musical note) is feminine, so it always takes the article die in the nominative singular:

  • die Note – the grade / the note
  • eine Note – a grade / a note

• The plural is die Noten (same article form, different meaning because of the plural ending):

  • die Noten – the grades / the notes

So der Note and das Note are wrong in the nominative; der Note can appear only in the dative singular (e.g. mit der Note – with the grade).

What does Note mean in this sentence? Is it a grade or a musical note?

Both meanings exist, but in this sentence the natural interpretation (and the one typically taught) is:

• Note = school grade / exam mark

You can see this from befriedigend, which is a standard word used in the German grading system. When Germans talk about music, they also use Note, but then the adjective would usually be something like hoch, tief, falsch, richtig, etc., not befriedigend.

So here it’s talking about how good a school grade is, not about music.