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Questions & Answers about Heute fühle ich mich besser.
Why is Heute at the beginning of the sentence?
In German, time expressions (like heute) are often fronted for emphasis. Also, German main clauses follow the verb‑second (V2) rule: whatever element comes first (here Heute) is position 1, and the finite verb (fühle) must be in position 2. This word order highlights when something happens.
Why does the verb fühle come before ich?
Because of the V2 rule. Since Heute occupies position 1, the conjugated verb fühle must be position 2, which pushes the subject ich into position 3:
- Heute
- fühle
- ich
Why is the reflexive pronoun mich used here instead of mir?
The verb sich fühlen (“to feel”) takes an accusative reflexive pronoun. For the subject ich, the accusative form is mich. Some reflexive verbs (like sich etwas vorstellen) use the dative, but sich fühlen always uses accusative.
Why is besser used instead of gut?
You’re comparing how you feel today to how you felt before, so you need the comparative form besser (“better”). If you just want to say “I feel good today” (no comparison), you would use gut:
Heute fühle ich mich gut.
Is Ich fühle mich heute besser also correct?
Yes. That version simply follows the neutral subject–verb–object order:
- Ich
- fühle
- mich
- heute
- besser
It’s equally correct; starting with heute just shifts the emphasis onto the time.
Can you express “I feel better today” in another way?
A very common idiom is Mir geht es heute besser. Structure:
- Mir (dative pronoun)
- geht (3 sg. of gehen)
- es (dummy pronoun)
- heute (time adverb)
- besser (comparative)
Literally: “To me it goes better today.”
Why is the verb fühlen conjugated to fühle for ich?
Fühlen is a regular (weak) verb. In the present tense, the ending for ich is ‑e. You remove ‑en from the infinitive (fühlen) and add ‑e, giving ich fühle.