Genau
Topic test · A1

Mir ist kalt test

10questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
Start the test Read the topic first

One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

10 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

You just walked in from the snow. What do you say?

Mir ist kalt. Box 1 — the cold is happening to you, so you go in the dative and the sentence has no subject. Ich bin kalt describes your personality. Ich habe kalt is the French pattern (j’ai froid) and does not exist in German.

How do you tell a friend you are hungry?

Ich habe Hunger. Box 2 — a feeling you carry, expressed as a noun: capital H, no article. Ich bin hungrig is grammatical but rarely said; Mir ist Hunger is not German at all, because box 1 only takes adjectives.

Wie geht es dir? —

How are you? — answer it

Mir geht’s gut. The question already puts you in the dative (dir), and the answer keeps you there (mir). Ich bin gut means «I am good at this». Mir ist gut is not a reply anyone gives; the negative Mir ist nicht gut does exist, but it means «I feel unwell», not «I am not fine».

You have eaten enough and want to decline a second helping.

Ich bin satt. Box 3 — a state you are in. Ich bin voll is understood colloquially as «I am drunk». Mir ist satt is wrong: satt does not belong to box 1, which is limited to temperature, malaise and boredom.

«I'm bored.» — the safe version?

Ich bin langweilig = «I am a boring person». The feeler goes in the dative: Mir ist langweilig.

«I feel sick / nauseous.» —

schlecht = bad; the pattern decides the meaning

Same dative pattern. Ich bin schlecht means «I'm a bad person».

Ask a friend «are you cold?» —

The question keeps the dative: Ist dir kalt? Bist du kalt? asks about their personality.

What is the hidden subject in «Mir ist kalt»?

The grammatical subject is an omitted es; the person affected sits in the dative. Crack this once and the whole family makes sense.

«I'm thirsty.» —

der Durst = thirst

Hunger and thirst are the exceptions: they use haben, not the dative pattern.

«I've warmed up (now comfortable).» —

warm ≠ heiß

warm = comfortable, heiß = too hot. Both live in the dative pattern.
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. The feeler goes in the dative

    Mir ist kalt/heiß/schlecht/langweilig/schwindelig. The grammatical subject is a silent es.

    Mir ist kalt.

  2. Ich bin … changes the meaning

    Ich bin kalt = I'm a cold person · Ich bin langweilig = I'm boring. The pattern isn't optional — it protects you.

    Mir ist langweilig ≠ Ich bin langweilig

  3. Hunger and thirst take haben

    Ich habe Hunger/Durst. These two never use the dative pattern.

    Ich habe Hunger.

  4. Questions keep the dative

    Ist dir kalt? · Wie geht es dir? — answer: Mir geht's gut.

    Ist dir kalt?

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • Ich bin kalt.

    Mir ist kalt.

    The subject version describes your personality.

  • Mir ist Hunger.

    Ich habe Hunger.

    Hunger is a haben-noun, not a dative feeling.

  • Bist du kalt?

    Ist dir kalt?

    The question keeps the dative too.

  • Ich bin heiß.

    Mir ist heiß.

    The subject version means something very different.