Breakdown of Jeden Dienstag trainiere ich Basketball in der Sporthalle der Hochschule.
in
in
ich
I
jeden
every
die Hochschule
the university
Questions & Answers about Jeden Dienstag trainiere ich Basketball in der Sporthalle der Hochschule.
Why is the finite verb trainiere placed immediately after Jeden Dienstag and before ich?
In German main clauses the finite verb must occupy the second position. If you move the time expression Jeden Dienstag to position one, the verb jumps into position two. The subject ich then follows in position three. In a neutral order (subject first) you would say Ich trainiere jeden Dienstag…, but both word orders are correct.
Why is jeden Dienstag used instead of am Dienstag, and why is Dienstag in the accusative?
When you speak of a recurring event (“every Tuesday”), German uses jeden + weekday in the accusative (singular) – jeden Dienstag. Am Dienstag (an + dative) would mean “on Tuesday” (one specific day), not necessarily repeated. Grammatically, jeden requires the accusative form Dienstag.
Could I shorten jeden Dienstag to dienstags?
Yes. German often turns habitual weekdays into adverbs by adding -s: dienstags means “on Tuesdays,” mittwochs “on Wednesdays,” etc. So you can say Dienstags trainiere ich Basketball… or Ich trainiere dienstags….
Why is there no article before Basketball? Shouldn’t it be “den Basketball”?