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The word "ist" in German

"Ist" in German is similar to the English version of "is." "Mein auto ist blau" means "my car is blue." "Die sonne ist gelb" means "the sun is yellow." In many ways, you can use "ist" in German as you would use "is" in English. Similar to English, "ist" is a form of "sein" which means 'to be.'

Let's go through a few examples:

  • Mein auto ist blau.
    My car is blue.
  • Die sonne ist gelb.
    The sun is yellow.
  • Der laptop ist kaputt.
    The laptop is broken.
  • Der Himmel ist blau.
    The sky is blue.
  • Das Haus ist groß.
    The house is big.
  • Der tisch ist rund.
    The table is round.
  • Mary sagt, sie ist krank.
    Mary says she is sick..
  • Das ist teuer.
    That is expensive.



You can also watch this video from the lingoni German channel for further examples of "ist":

As for "he is" which is "er ist," "she is" which is "sie ist," and "it is" which is "es ist," these three videos from the Easy Language channel explain it quite well":


In another lesson, we will discuss “bist,” “sind,” and “seid,” which are similiar to the English use of "are," depending on what pronoun/noun is used and whether the pronoun/noun is singular or plural. Just like we can conjugate "to be" in English, we can also conjugate "sein" in German.

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