Dieses Land ist schön.
791
Okay, maybe I am having a very bad day, but, why Dieses and not Dies? Land is neuter, oder?
9 Comments
- 616
Because the demontrative pronouns are dieser (masc.), diese (feminine) and dieses (neuter). So really it is very straight forward. If you say "dies" then you're implying a comparison to something else, eg. "dies Land ist schoen aber jenes Land ist nicht so schoen".
- 616
demonstrative pronouns are "this" and "that", in German "dieser/diese/dieses" ;-)
- 791
Oh, thanks. I really did not know. If das is used to mean "this" or "that" does das become a demonstrative pronoun?
- 616
yes, in that case "das" would be a demontrative pronoun, too, as you put emphasis on one particular thing. When you look at what I just typed, you have a demonstrative "that" right there. "In that case" can be translated with "in diesem Fall" (it's dative because of the preposition "in") but also with "in DEM Fall" and you would probably put a bit more emphasis on the "dem" when you're speaking. Am I making sense?
You are right, "Dies Land ist schön" is ok as well, but it works only for neuter nouns, so male "Dieser Mann ist schön" and female "Diese Frau ist schön." Reminds me of the song "This land is your land", in German "Dies Land ist dein Land"
