Breakdown of Ich kümmere mich heute um das Abendessen.
ich
I
heute
today
um
at (time)
das Abendessen
the dinner
Questions & Answers about Ich kümmere mich heute um das Abendessen.
Why is there a mich in this sentence?
The verb here is sich kümmern (to take care of / to look after). It is a reflexive verb, meaning it requires a reflexive pronoun to be complete. Since the subject is ich (I), the matching reflexive pronoun in the accusative case is mich. Literally, the structure is like saying 'I concern myself with the dinner'.
I learned that um means 'around' or is used for time. Why is it used here?
Many German verbs are paired with specific prepositions, just like in English (for example, 'to listen to' or 'to wait for'). The verb sich kümmern is almost always paired with the preposition um. You just have to memorize them together as a set phrase: sich kümmern um (to take care of something).
Is das Abendessen in the nominative or accusative case here?
It is in the accusative case. The preposition um is a 'strict' accusative preposition, meaning any noun that comes right after it must always take the accusative case. Because Abendessen is a neuter noun, its accusative article is just das, which happens to look exactly the same as the nominative.
Could I put heute at the very end of the sentence?