Breakdown of Was machst du heute Abend?
du
you (informal singular)
machen
to make, to do
was
what
heute Abend
this evening, tonight
Questions & Answers about Was machst du heute Abend?
Why does the German sentence use the present tense machst for something happening in the future?
In German, it is very common to use the present tense to talk about the future, as long as you include a time word that makes it clear. Here, the time expression heute Abend shows you are talking about later today, so the present tense machst works perfectly for asking what you "are doing" or "will do".
Why is it heute Abend instead of a word for "this" or "tonight"?
While English says "this evening" or "tonight", German usually pairs the word heute (today) with the time of day. So heute Abend literally translates to "today evening". This is the standard way to talk about the evening of the current day.
Why is Abend capitalized but heute is not?
In German, all nouns (words for people, places, and things) are capitalized. Abend (evening) is a noun, so it always gets a capital letter. The word heute (today) is an adverb describing when something happens, so it stays lowercase.
Does machst mean "make" or "do" here?
The verb machen can mean either "to make" or "to do" depending on the context. When asking about someone's plans like in this sentence, it translates to "do". Also, notice that German doesn't use a helping verb like "are" or an "-ing" ending, so machst du covers both "do you do" and "are you doing".
Learn Was machst du heute Abend and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free