Ich fühle mich heute schwach.

I feel weak today.

Breakdown of Ich fühle mich heute schwach.

• ich: I
• heute: today
• fühlen: to feel
• mich: myself
• schwach: weak

Questions & Answers about Ich fühle mich heute schwach.

Why does mich appear in the sentence? Isn’t fühlen normally a transitive verb?

In German, sich fühlen is a reflexive verb used to express how one feels (emotionally or physically). It always takes a reflexive pronoun in the accusative case. Since the subject is ich, you need mich:
Ich fühle mich heute schwach.
Literally, “I feel myself weak today.”

What case is mich, and why not mir?

Because sich fühlen governs the accusative case for its reflexive pronoun. For the first person singular:
– Accusative: mich
– Dative: mir
Here you always use the accusative form mich.

Why is the adjective schwach not inflected (no ending like -e, -er, etc.)?

Schwach is used predicatively, not attributively. Predicative adjectives (those that follow a linking verb or a reflexive construction) never get adjective endings. Examples:
– Ich bin schwach.
– Ich fühle mich schwach.

Why is heute placed between mich and schwach?

German word order in the “middle field” often follows this hierarchy:
1) Personal pronouns (e.g. mich)
2) Time adverbials (e.g. heute)
3) Manner/place expressions or predicate adjectives (e.g. schwach)
So you get: Ich (subject) – fühle (verb) – mich – heute – schwach.

Could I instead say Ich bin heute schwach?

Yes. Ich bin heute schwach is perfectly correct. The difference is subtle:
– Ich fühle mich heute schwach emphasizes your subjective, felt experience.
– Ich bin heute schwach states your condition more objectively.

How would I express “I felt weak yesterday”?

You can use either the simple past or the present perfect:
– Simple past: Ich fühlte mich gestern schwach.
– Present perfect: Ich habe mich gestern schwach gefühlt.

Is it possible to drop mich and say Ich fühle heute schwach?

In very casual speech some Germans might omit the reflexive pronoun (Ich fühle heute schwach), but this is non-standard. For clear, correct German, always include mich with sich fühlen.

How do I pronounce schwach?

Phonetically: [ʃvaːx]
– sch = English “sh”
– w = like English “v”
– final ach = the voiceless velar fricative (like the “ch” in Scottish “loch”)