F-1: How are you feeling at the moment

Similar to the verb gefallen (to appeal) which uses ‘to/for/from someone’ (as in ‘Deutsch gefällt mir/dir/ihm’ = German appeals to me etc.), when you talk about how you are feeling at the moment, you also use the ‘to/for/from’ form of the pronoun.

For example, you would say:

• Mir ist (nicht) gut/kalt/warm. = ‘To me’ is (not) well/cold/warm.

If you say it the way we say it in English: ‘Ich bin gut/kalt/warm’, it would mean ‘I am a good/cold/warm person’. Chances are that it is not what you are trying to say. 

Very important: only a handful of adjectives can be used this way! (see below)

Here are all the forms (please note that the verb changes in English, but not in German):

• Mir ist kalt. = I am cold.
• Dir ist kalt. = You are cold.
• Ihm ist kalt. = He is cold.
• Ihr ist kalt. = She is cold.
• Uns ist kalt. = We are cold.
• Euch ist kalt. = You all are cold.
• Ihnen ist kalt. = You (polite) are cold.
• ihnen ist kalt. = They are cold.

Other adjectives which work the same way are nicht gut /schlecht (bad), übel (nauseous) [related to the English word ‘evil’], schwindelig (dizzy), langweilig (bored)

To re-form such sentences as ‘dir ist kalt’ into yes/no question, all you have to do is move the verb to the beginning:

• Ist dir/Ihnen kalt? – Are you cold?
• Ja, mir ist kalt! – Yes, I am [lit. to me is] cold!
• Nein, mir ist nicht kalt! – No, I am [lit. to me is] not cold!