Questions & Answers about Ich esse meistens hier.
Why does meistens come before hier?
A great rule to remember in German is 'Time before Place'. Since meistens (usually) describes time or frequency, and hier (here) describes a place, meistens comes first. English is more flexible with words like 'usually', but German strongly prefers this order.
Can I start the sentence with meistens instead?
Yes! You can say Meistens esse ich hier to put special emphasis on 'usually'. Just remember the golden rule of German word order: the main verb (esse) must stay in the second position. Because meistens took the first spot, ich has to jump to the other side of the verb.
Is meistens used the same way as oft or nie?
Exactly! It is an adverb of frequency, just like the ones in your current lesson. You can easily swap it out without changing the sentence structure: Ich esse oft hier (I often eat here), Ich esse nie hier (I never eat here), or Ich esse manchmal hier (I sometimes eat here).
Just as a refresher, why is the verb esse and not isst?