Hover a line for its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Lena wants to invite Alex to a birthday party.
Every day of the week is masculine — der Montag, der Dienstag and so on — which means "on Monday" is am Montag throughout, with no exceptions to remember. Mittwoch is the odd one out in not ending in -tag: it means "mid-week", and it is still masculine. German does not say "Jonas's birthday" the way English does. Jonas hat am Freitag Geburtstag is literally "Jonas has birthday on Friday" — the birthday is something you have, not something that belongs to you. The same construction gives Ich habe Hunger and Ich habe Zeit, both of which you have already met. Reach for haben whenever English would use "is" plus a state. Birthday greetings are worth knowing now: Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag! is the standard, and Alles Gute! is the shorter everyday version. One superstition holds firmly — never congratulate a German on a birthday before the day itself. Wishing someone happy birthday the evening before is genuinely thought to bring bad luck, and people will stop you.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. The verb is always second
This is the rule that shapes German sentences. In a statement, the conjugated verb sits in the second position — not the second word, the second slot. Ich arbeite am Mittwoch puts ich first and arbeite second. Move the time to the front for emphasis and something has to give: Am Mittwoch arbeite ich. The verb stays put in second place and the subject jumps behind it. English does not do this, and writing Am Mittwoch ich arbeite is the single most recognisable learner mistake in the language.
2. Days of the week
Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag. All masculine, all taking am for "on": am Montag, am Sonntag. For something habitual, add -s and drop the capital: montags means "on Mondays", as a general rule. In the north and east you may hear Sonnabend instead of Samstag; both are correct and understood everywhere.
3. können — can
The first modal verb proper: ich kann, du kannst, er/sie/es kann, wir können, ihr könnt, sie/Sie können. Notice that ich and er share a form and neither takes an ending — that is true of every modal verb in German, and it looks wrong to an English speaker for about a week. When können carries a second verb, that verb goes to the end in its plain infinitive form: Kannst du kommen? Ich kann am Mittwoch nicht kommen.
4. Separable verbs with a modal
mitbringen splits like anfangen did: Ich bringe einen Kuchen mit. But put it behind a modal and it goes to the end whole and unsplit: Kann ich etwas mitbringen? This is the useful half of the rule — a separable verb only comes apart when it is the one doing the conjugating. Behind können, möchten or any other modal, it stays in one piece.
5. am, im, um and one exception
Three small words carry almost all German time expressions. um is for clock times: um acht Uhr. am is for days and parts of the day: am Freitag, am Morgen, am Wochenende. im is for months and seasons: im Mai, im Winter. The one that refuses to fit is night, which takes in der Nacht. Years need no preposition at all — Germans say simply 2026, or the more formal im Jahr 2026, but never the English-influenced in 2026.
A. Fill in the Blank · Ergänzen Sie
Fill in the blank with a word from this lesson.
- 1. Donnerstag habe ich Zeit.on (a day)
- 2. du kommen?can (du form)
- 3.Jonas hat am Freitag .birthday
- 4.Bring einfach gute Laune !the separated half of mitbringen
B. Multiple Choice · Wählen Sie
Choose the correct German.
- 1.Which sentence has the verb in second position?
- 2.Which is the correct du form of können?
- 3.Where does the mit of mitbringen go?
- 4.How do you say "on Friday"?
C. Word Order · Bilden Sie Sätze
Put the words in the right order.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · Richtig oder falsch
Decide whether each statement about the dialogue is true.
- 1.Alex is free on Wednesday.
- 2.The birthday is on Friday.
- 3.The party starts at eight.
- 4.Lena asks Alex to bring a cake.
E. Matching · Ordnen Sie zu
Match each question to the answer that fits it.
F. Translation · Übersetzen Sie
Translate between German and English.
- 1.Can you come on Friday?
- 2.On Thursday I'm free.
- 3.Kann ich etwas mitbringen?
- 4.Wir machen eine Party.
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Sunday is closed
Almost every shop in Germany is shut on Sunday, and this is law rather than custom — the Ladenschlussgesetz restricts Sunday trading nationwide, with only a handful of exceptions: bakeries for a few morning hours, petrol stations, and shops inside railway stations and airports, which is why a German main station on a Sunday is unexpectedly busy with people buying groceries. Plan your shopping for Saturday or go hungry. Sunday is also a legal Ruhetag, a day of rest, which reaches further than shopping: mowing the lawn, drilling, using a leaf blower or running a noisy washing machine on a Sunday can generate a complaint from neighbors, and in an apartment block it very often does. The same quiet hours apply every night from around ten, and between one and three in the afternoon in some buildings. What Sunday is for instead is a walk, a long breakfast, or Kaffee und Kuchen in the afternoon — a genuine institution, at around three or four, and the reason every town has more cake shops than seems plausible.