Ihr Ehemann arbeitet heute.

In this sentence, Ihr is a possessive word meaning her or, in some contexts, formal your.

A very common learner question is: Is this her husband or your husband?
Grammatically, Ihr Ehemann can mean either:

• her husband
• your husband when speaking to one person formally

Only context tells you which one is meant. Because Ihr is at the beginning of the sentence, the capital letter does not help us decide.

It is capitalized because it is the first word in the sentence.

German always capitalizes the first word of a sentence, just like English. So here, the capital I does not automatically mean it is the formal possessive.

Because all German nouns are capitalized.

So:

• Ehemann = noun, so it gets a capital letter
• arbeitet = verb, so it does not
• heute = adverb, so it does not

This is one of the most noticeable spelling rules in German.

Ehemann specifically means husband.

Mann can mean:

• man
• husband, depending on context

So Ehemann is more precise and clearly means a married husband. In everyday speech, Germans often just say Mann for husband, but Ehemann is perfectly correct and a bit more explicit or formal.

Because the subject is Ehemann, which is he / third-person singular.

The verb arbeiten means to work. Its present-tense forms include:

• ich arbeite
• du arbeitest
• er/sie/es arbeitet
• wir arbeiten
• ihr arbeitet
• sie/Sie arbeiten

Since Ehemann is singular, the correct form is arbeitet.

This is normal German main-clause word order:

• subject: Ihr Ehemann
• verb: arbeitet
• time expression: heute

In a standard German statement, the conjugated verb usually comes in second position. That is the key rule.

So:

• Ihr Ehemann = first element
• arbeitet = second element

Then other information, like heute, comes after that.

Because German often puts time expressions after the verb in simple sentences.

So heute in this sentence is in a very natural position. But German word order is flexible, and you could also say:

• Heute arbeitet ihr Ehemann.

That would emphasize today more strongly. The verb still stays in second position.

Yes. Ihr Ehemann is the subject.

You can tell because:

• he is the person doing the action
• the verb arbeitet agrees with that noun in singular form

So the basic structure is:

• Ihr Ehemann = subject
• arbeitet = verb
• heute = time adverb

Because Ihr already functions as a determiner.

In German, possessive words like:

• mein
• dein
• sein
• ihr
• unser

usually take the place of an article.

So you say:

• ihr Ehemann

not normally:

• der ihr Ehemann

That would be incorrect in standard German.

Yes. Like other possessive determiners in German, ihr- changes its ending depending on case, gender, and number.

Here you have:

• ihr Ehemann = nominative masculine singular

Some other forms are:

• ihren Ehemann = accusative masculine singular
• ihrem Ehemann = dative masculine singular
• ihres Ehemannes = genitive masculine singular

At an early stage, it is enough to notice that the base form is ihr-, and the ending changes depending on grammar.

Yes, it does have an extra syllable in speech.

arbeitet is pronounced roughly like AR-by-tet.
That happens because the verb stem ends in -t: arbeit-.

When German adds the ending -t, it inserts an extra vowel sound to make pronunciation easier:

• arbeiten
• er arbeitet

This is common with stems ending in -t or -d:

• warten → er wartet
• reden → er redet

Yes. That is very natural and common.

• Ihr Ehemann arbeitet heute = a bit more explicit or formal
• Ihr Mann arbeitet heute = more everyday and conversational

Both are correct. The choice depends on tone and style.