Learn Hardcore German: Die Patientin kriegt heute zwei neue Termine zugeteilt. - The female patient is being assigned two new appointments today.

It’s nominative singular feminine. The subject is die Patientin, so the article is die. In the underlying “active” version, the recipient would be dative (der Patientin), but in this recipient-passive construction, the recipient becomes the subject: hence nominative die Patientin.

Why is it Termine and not Terminen?

Because zwei neue Termine is the direct object in the accusative plural. The verb idea is “to get something assigned,” where “something” (the appointments) is the accusative. Dative plural Terminen would appear with dative-governing contexts (e.g., with a preposition like mit: mit zwei neuen Terminen), not here.

Is this sentence a kind of passive?

Yes, it’s the so‑called recipient passive (bekommen/kriegen‑Passive): Die Patientin kriegt/bekommt zwei neue Termine zugeteilt. It highlights what the recipient gets. The “regular” werden‑passive would be: Der Patientin werden heute zwei neue Termine zugeteilt. Here, the appointments become the grammatical subject (plural, so werden).

Is kriegen colloquial? Should I use bekommt or erhält?

kriegen is widely used in everyday Standard German but is informal.
bekommen is neutral and the safest choice.
erhalten is more formal.
All three work here: kriegt/bekommt/erhält … zugeteilt (style and context decide).

Why does zugeteilt sit at the end?

German uses a “sentence bracket” (Satzklammer). The finite verb (kriegt) goes in position 2, and the past participle (zugeteilt) goes to the end. Also, zuteilen is a separable-prefix verb: present er teilt … zu, perfect er hat … zugeteilt—hence the participle at the end.

Can I drop zugeteilt and just say Die Patientin bekommt heute zwei neue Termine?

Yes. That’s fully grammatical: Die Patientin bekommt heute zwei neue Termine. Including zugeteilt adds the nuance of official “assignment” by someone (e.g., the practice/office). Without it, it’s simply “receives/gets.”

Where can I put heute?

Neutral: Die Patientin kriegt heute zwei neue Termine zugeteilt.
To foreground the time: Heute kriegt die Patientin zwei neue Termine zugeteilt.
… zwei neue Termine heute zugeteilt is possible but sounds marked; time adverbs usually come earlier (German often prefers Time–Manner–Place ordering).

Why is it neue (not neuen) Termine?

With no article in the plural, adjectives take strong endings. Accusative plural strong ending is -e, so neue Termine. Compare: dative plural would be mit neuen Terminen (adjective -en, noun -n).

Should I use neue or weitere if she already had appointments?

neue = new (not the old ones), with no explicit “in addition” meaning.
weitere = additional/further.
If the idea is “two more appointments (on top of existing ones),” zwei weitere Termine fits best.

What’s the difference between zuteilen and zuweisen?

They overlap.

zuteilen: to allocate/distribute from a pool (very common with slots, resources, appointments).
zuweisen: to assign/allocate (often a bit more formal/bureaucratic).
Here, both are fine: … zwei neue Termine zugeteilt/zugewiesen.

What is the active (non-passive) version of this sentence?

Die Praxis teilt der Patientin heute zwei neue Termine zu.
Subject: die Praxis (nominative)
Indirect object (recipient): der Patientin (dative)
Direct object (thing allocated): zwei neue Termine (accusative)

How do I include who assigns the appointments?

Add a von-phrase in the recipient-passive:
Die Patientin kriegt heute von der Praxis zwei neue Termine zugeteilt.
In the werden‑passive: Der Patientin werden heute von der Praxis zwei neue Termine zugeteilt.

How do I pronounce kriegt and what about zugeteilt?

kriegt: one syllable, roughly “kreegt” [kriːkt].
zugeteilt: stress on the first syllable: “TSOO‑ge‑teilt,” with clear final “-teilt.”
Don’t confuse kriegt with the noun Krieg (war); here it’s the verb form of kriegen.

Can I use future tense (wird … bekommen), or is the present enough?

German often uses the present for near-future events if there’s a time word: Die Patientin kriegt heute … is natural. You can use future if you want to stress futurity: Die Patientin wird heute zwei neue Termine zugeteilt bekommen, but it’s rarely necessary and can sound heavy.