Talking about strong wind outside | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Draußen ist es windig.

   It's windy outside.

   Draußen

   outside

   ist es

   it is

   windig

   windy

   More detail

   Draußen means “outside” and locates the situation outdoors. It is an adverb, so it does not change for number or gender. A useful contrast is drinnen (“inside”): Draußen ist es warm. — “It is warm outside.” ist es contains ist, the third-person singular present form of sein (“to be”), and es, the subject form used here in a weather description. In this use, es is not a specific person or object; German uses this grammatical subject to frame statements about conditions. The form chain is sein — ist — “to be” — “is.” windig means “windy” here. It is an adjective related to Wind (“wind”), and after sein it describes the condition without an adjective ending: Es ist windig. — “It is windy.” This is different from an attributive use before a noun, where the adjective takes an ending, as in ein windiger Tag — “a windy day.” Together, Draußen sets the location, ist es presents the weather condition, and windig names that condition. The complete utterance means: “It’s windy outside.”

2. Halte deinen Hut mit einer Hand fest.

   Hold your hat with one hand.

   Halte

   hold

   deinen

   your

   Hut

   hat

   mit

   with

   einer

   one

   Hand

   hand

   fest

   firmly

   More detail

   Halte is the informal singular imperative of halten, “to hold.” Here it works with the separated element fest as the separable verb festhalten, “to hold firmly” or “to keep hold of.” In a command, the subject du is normally left unstated. For example: Halte die Tür! — “Hold the door!” deinen means “your” here and agrees with the masculine singular noun Hut in the accusative case. The possessive form changes with the noun’s grammatical gender, number, and case; dein is the corresponding basic form. For example: deine Tasche — “your bag”; deinen Rucksack — “your backpack.” Hut means “hat.” Its plural is Hüte. In this sentence, Hut is the direct object of Halte, so it is accusative; the masculine singular possessive form is therefore deinen rather than dein. mit means “with” and takes the dative case. einer is the dative feminine singular form of the indefinite article, agreeing with Hand. In this sentence, the translation explicitly gives the quantity “one,” so einer Hand means “one hand.” For example: mit einer Hand — “with one hand.” Hand means “hand.” Its plural is Hände. The phrase mit einer Hand expresses the means or manner: the holding is done using one hand. fest means “firmly” here and completes the separable verb festhalten. In a main-clause imperative, the verb part appears first as Halte and the separable element appears at the end: Halte ... fest. The same pattern occurs in Ich halte den Griff fest. — “I hold the handle firmly.” Together, Halte deinen Hut ... fest gives the command “Hold your hat firmly,” while mit einer Hand specifies that one hand is used. The complete utterance is therefore: “Hold your hat with one hand.”

3. Die Bäume bewegen sich stark.

   The trees are moving a lot.

   Bäume

   trees

   bewegen sich

   move

   stark

   a lot

   More detail

   Bäume means “trees” here. Its singular base form is der Baum; Bäume is the plural, formed with an umlaut and no plural ending. In this sentence, Die Bäume is the subject: die marks the definite plural noun phrase, while Bäume is the plural noun. bewegen sich expresses “are moving.” The base verb is sich bewegen, “to move,” used here in the present tense for third-person plural: Die Bäume bewegen sich. The reflexive sich belongs to the verb construction and refers back to the subject. German present tense can describe an action happening now, so it can correspond to English “are moving.” Without the reflexive, bewegen commonly means “to move something”: Sie bewegen den Tisch. — “They move the table.” stark literally means “strong” in many contexts, but here it describes the intensity of the movement, giving the meaning “a lot” or “strongly.” The same form can function as an adjective or an adverb; here it modifies bewegen sich, not a noun. For example, Der Wind weht stark. means “The wind is blowing strongly.” Together, Die Bäume + bewegen sich + stark gives: “The trees are moving a lot.”

4. Der Wind ist an der Straße stärker.

   The wind is stronger near the street.

   Wind

   wind

   ist

   is

   an der Straße

   near the street

   stärker

   stronger

   More detail

   Wind means “wind” here. Its base form is der Wind, a masculine noun; der marks nominative singular in this sentence. Example: Der Wind kommt vom Meer. — “The wind is coming from the sea.” ist is the third-person singular present form of sein (“to be”). The infinitive is sein, with the useful present forms ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist. Here it links Der Wind with the description stärker. an der Straße expresses location near or beside the street. an takes the dative here because the phrase describes a stationary location, not movement toward a destination. Straße is feminine, so its singular dative form uses der: an der Straße. Example: Das Café ist an der Straße. — “The café is near the street.” stärker is the comparative form of the adjective stark (“strong”). The comparison chain is stark — “strong,” stärker — “stronger,” am stärksten — “strongest.” The form compares the wind here with an understood reference level or another situation; the sentence does not specify what that comparison is. Example: Der Wind ist heute stärker. — “The wind is stronger today.” Together, Der Wind ist an der Straße stärker. means “The wind is stronger near the street.” The location phrase an der Straße identifies where the comparison applies, while ist stärker describes the wind there.

5. Sollen wir langsamer gehen?

   Should we walk more slowly?

   Sollen wir

   Should we

   langsamer

   more slowly

   gehen

   walk

   More detail

   Sollen wir combines the modal verb sollen with wir (“we”). In this question, sollen expresses a suggestion or proposal: “Should we …?” In a yes/no question, the conjugated verb comes first, followed by the subject. Compare the statement Wir sollen … (“We should …”) with the question Sollen wir …?. langsamer is the comparative form of the adverb langsam (“slowly”): langsam → langsamer (“more slowly”). It describes the manner of gehen, so it asks for walking at a slower pace. The ending belongs to langsamer, not to the verb or to another noun. For example, Bitte sprich langsamer. means “Please speak more slowly.” gehen is the infinitive of the verb meaning “to walk” or, in other contexts, “to go.” Here the fixed translation selects the walking sense. After the modal verb sollen, the other verb remains in the infinitive and comes at the end: Sollen wir gehen? means “Should we walk/go?” Together, Sollen wir + langsamer + gehen forms the yes/no question “Should we walk more slowly?” It is a proposal addressed to a group that includes the speaker, with langsamer specifying the requested change in walking pace.

6. Lass uns an der Straße langsamer gehen.

   Let's slow down near the street.

   Lass uns

   let’s

   an der

   at the / by the

   Straße

   street

   langsamer

   more slowly

   gehen

   go / walk

   More detail

   Lass uns is a reusable way to suggest an action: lass is the informal singular imperative of lassen, and uns means “us” as the people included in the suggestion. With an infinitive, the pattern is Lass uns + infinitive: “Let’s …”. For example: Lass uns warten. — “Let’s wait.” an der Straße locates the action by or at the street. an is a two-way preposition: with a static location it takes the dative here, so the feminine article appears as der (die Straße → an der Straße). The noun Straße means “street” and has the plural Straßen. For example: Wir stehen an der Straße. — “We are standing by the street.” langsamer means “more slowly” here. It is the comparative of the adverb langsam (“slowly”): langsam → langsamer → am langsamsten (“slowly” → “more slowly” → “most slowly”). The comparative indicates a slower manner than before or than the current pace; it does not change the noun Straße. gehen is the infinitive “to go” or “to walk.” After Lass uns, the infinitive stays at the end of this utterance. For example: Lass uns schneller gehen. — “Let’s walk faster.” Together, Lass uns ... gehen gives the suggestion “Let’s walk/go ...”; langsamer specifies the manner, and an der Straße specifies the location. The complete meaning is: “Let’s slow down near the street.”

7. Ich halte meine Tasche auch nah bei mir.

   I'll hold my bag close too.

   halte

   hold; keep

   Tasche

   bag

   auch

   also; too

   nah

   close; near

   bei mir

   near me

   More detail

   halte is the first-person singular present form of halten (“to hold; to keep”): ich halte. In this sentence, it describes the speaker keeping the bag in a position. The same verb can have other meanings in other contexts, such as stopping, so its object and surrounding words matter. Tasche means “bag.” Its base form is the feminine noun die Tasche; here, meine Tasche is the direct object of halte, so it is in the accusative. The possessive form meine agrees with this feminine singular noun and has the same visible form as in the nominative. A useful plural is die Taschen (“the bags”). auch means “too” or “also.” Here it adds this action or circumstance to something already understood: the speaker will hold the bag close as well. Its position can vary, but its scope depends on where it appears in the sentence. nah means “close” or “near.” In nah bei mir, it describes the bag’s position relative to the speaker. The related comparative is näher (“closer”), from nah. bei mir means “near me” in this sentence. bei is a preposition that takes the dative, and mir is the first-person singular dative form of ich. Compare the reusable pattern bei dir (“near you”) with bei mir (“near me”); the pronoun changes with the person, while bei stays the same. Together, Ich halte meine Tasche auch nah bei mir means “I’ll hold my bag close too.” Ich halte supplies the speaker and the holding action, meine Tasche is what is held, auch adds “too,” and nah bei mir specifies that the bag is kept close to the speaker. German uses the present form halte here, while the fixed English translation uses “I’ll” to express the intended action.

8. Dann sollte deine Tasche nicht aufgehen.

   That should keep it from blowing open.

   Dann

   then

   sollte

   should

   deine

   your

   Tasche

   bag

   nicht

   not

   aufgehen

   open up

   More detail

   Dann means “then” or, in this context, “in that case.” It links this expected result to the preceding situation without changing who or what is involved. Example: Dann gehen wir. — “Then we’ll go.” sollte is the form of sollen used here with a third-person singular subject. With the infinitive aufgehen, it expresses an expectation or likely result: the bag is expected not to open. It is not an instruction to the bag. The same form can also express a recommendation in other contexts, so the surrounding construction determines the meaning here. deine means “your” and belongs to the possessor. Its form agrees with Tasche, not with the person who owns it: Tasche is feminine singular in this sentence, and the possessive form is deine. Compare the reusable pattern deine Tasche (“your bag”) with dein Buch (“your book”), where the possessive form changes with the noun’s grammatical form. Tasche means “bag.” Its plural is Taschen. In this sentence it is the subject of aufgehen, so the bag is the thing that is expected not to open. nicht negates the following result: the expected event is that the bag does not open. German commonly places nicht before the infinitive or infinitive phrase that it negates in a modal construction. Example: Die Tür sollte nicht aufgehen. — “The door should not open.” aufgehen means “to open up” or “to come open.” It is an infinitive and stays at the end after the modal verb sollte; the finite verb carries the tense and agreement. As a separable verb in a suitable finite construction, it can split: Die Tasche geht auf. — “The bag opens.” Here it remains together because it is the infinitive. Together, Dann sollte deine Tasche nicht aufgehen means “Then your bag should not open up.” With the fixed translation and the preceding context, the intended practical meaning is that keeping the bag close should keep it from blowing open. The sentence presents that as an expected result, not as a guaranteed outcome.