Dialogue

Lesson Transcript

Do you know how to describe something in terms of its good and bad qualities in German?
Welcome to Three Step German Practice by GermanPod101.com.
In this lesson, you'll practice describing things using common adjectives to talk about their good and bad qualities.
Let's look at the main dialogue.
Two people are having a conversation.
Mats, dieser Tennisball wirkt hart. Ist er nicht zu fest?
"Mats, this tennis ball seems hard. Isn't it too firm?"
Nein, er ist weich und springt gut.
"No, it's soft and bounces well."
hart, fest
weich, gut
Klingt gut. Ist er teuer?
"Sounds good. Is it expensive?"
Ein bisschen, aber die Qualität ist sehr gut.
"A bit, but the quality is very good."
gut, teuer
gut
Let's review the key grammar point from this lesson.
To describe something in German, use this simple structure:
[Noun] or [Pronoun] + sein + Adjective
This pattern lets you talk about the qualities of a person or object — what it's like right now.
For example:
Er ist weich.
"It is soft" — used for masculine nouns like der Ball
Die Qualität ist sehr gut.
"The quality is very good" — a feminine noun with an adjective phrase
The adjective always stays in its basic form after sein — it doesn't change for gender or number in this sentence pattern.
This structure works with all kinds of descriptive words like:
hart "hard," weich "soft,"
teuer "expensive," fest "firm,"
gut "good," langsam "slow,"
sauber "clean," alt "old," and more.
Now let's try using some of these and more adjectives to describe things in German!

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