The verb „sein“ (to be)
The verb „sein“ to be can have three different complements:
1. situative complement: Ich bin in der Stadt. – I’m in the city.
Explanation: The situative complement consists of a preposition (here „in“) and a noun in the dative case (here „der Stadt“, der is the dative of the feminine „die“; Stadt has a feminine gender).
2. nominative complement: Das ist aber eine schöne Jacke. – Wow, that’s a nice jacket!
Explanation: „Jacke“ has a feminine gender, so the adjective „schön“ gets the ending -e, „eine“ is the indefinite feminine article in the nominative case.
3. adjective complent: Die Wohnung ist echt schön. – The flat is really nice.
Explanation: „schön“ is the adjective complement.
ATTENTION! „sein“ is an irregular verb:
ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind
Grammar:
§1 The declination of the adjective after the indefinite article in the nominative case:
ein schöner (m)
eine schöne (f)
ein schönes (n)
– schöne (PL)
§2 The declination of the adjective after the definite article in the nominative case:
der, die, das schöne (m,f,n)
die schönen (PL)
ATTENTION! The endings of the adjective differ depending on wether a definite or an indefinite article is used.
Now build sentences with the verb „sein“ and the nominative complement, once with the definite and once with the indefinite article.
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1. Hut(m), neu
2. Hose(f), grau
3. Ohrringe(PL), schön
4. Schuhe(PL), alt
5. Hemd(n), rot
6. Mantel(m), grau
7. Pullover(m), gelb
8. T-Shirt(n), grün
9. Socken(PL), alt
10. Bluse(f), blau
abbrevations used here:
nom. – nominative case/complement
m – masculine
f – feminine
n – neuter
PL – PLURAL
