Learn Hardcore German: Gestern Abend gab mir meine Mutter einen hilfreichen Hinweis. - Last night my mother gave me a helpful hint.

In German the time-expression (Wann?) often goes first for emphasis or clarity. Starting with Gestern Abend (“last night”) tells the listener right away when the action happened. You could also say Meine Mutter gab mir gestern Abend einen hilfreichen Hinweis, but the original puts the time element in front.

Why is there no comma after Gestern Abend?

Commas in German are not used to separate simple adverbial phrases from the main clause. Since Gestern Abend is just a time adverbial and not a parenthetical remark or subordinate clause, you don’t need a comma.

What case is meine Mutter in, and why?

Meine Mutter is in the nominative case because she is the subject of the verb gab. In German, the subject that performs the action always stands in the nominative.

What case is mir, and why is a dative pronoun used here?

Mir is the dative pronoun (“to me”). German uses the dative case for the indirect object—the recipient of something. Here the mother is giving something to “me,” so “me” becomes mir.

What case is einen hilfreichen Hinweis, and how do you know?

That phrase is in the accusative case because it’s the direct object—the thing being given. Hinweis is masculine, and in the singular accusative after the indefinite article it takes einen and the adjective hilfreich gets the weak declension ending -en.

Why does hilfreichen have the ending -en?

After the indefinite article einen, adjectives preceding a masculine singular noun follow the weak declension (they get -en in all cases except the nominative). So einen hilfreichen Hinweis is the correct accusative form.

Why does the verb geben appear as gab instead of hat gegeben?

Gab is the simple past (Präteritum) form of geben. In written or narrative German, many common verbs (especially geben, nehmen, sein, haben) use the Präteritum rather than the Perfekt. In spoken German you’d more often hear hat mir einen Hinweis gegeben, but gab is perfectly normal in writing.

Is the word order gab mir meine Mutter mandatory? Can you rearrange it?

German word order is flexible, but in main clauses you must keep the finite verb in second position. You could say Meine Mutter gab mir einen hilfreichen Hinweis gestern Abend or swap indirect and direct objects—Meine Mutter gab einen hilfreichen Hinweis mir—though the original IO-before-DO order (mir before einen Hinweis) is most idiomatic.

Why is Abend capitalized while gestern is not?

In German all nouns are capitalized (here Abend), whereas adverbs and adjectives like gestern remain lowercase. Even when they appear together as Gestern Abend, you still capitalize only the noun.

Could you say am gestrigen Abend instead of Gestern Abend?

Yes. Am gestrigen Abend (“on the evening of yesterday”) is more formal and uses the preposition am plus the adjective gestrigen in dative. Native speakers often prefer the simpler gestern Abend, but am gestrigen Abend is grammatically correct and a bit more literary.