Learn Hardcore German: Nächste Woche setzen wir einen neuen Schwerpunkt: freie Gespräche. - Next week we will set a new focus: free conversations.

In German, time expressions with words like heute, morgen, nächste Woche, letztes Jahr usually appear without an article when they function as simple adverbials of time.

Nächste Woche setzen wir … = Next week we (will) …
Using die nächste Woche is possible, but then Woche is treated more as a specific “week as a thing”, e.g.:
- Die nächste Woche wird stressig. – The next week will be stressful.

So in your sentence, Nächste Woche is a normal, neutral way to say “next week” as a time reference, and no article is needed.

Why is it nächste Woche and not nächsten Woche?

Woche is feminine (die Woche). The phrase nächste Woche is functioning as a time expression and is in the accusative (often called an “accusative of time”). For feminine singular with no article, the adjective ending in the accusative is -e:

Feminine, no article:
- Nominative: nächste Woche
- Accusative: nächste Woche

So nominative and accusative happen to look the same for feminine here, both nächste, not nächsten. That’s why you see nächste Woche.

Could I say Wir setzen nächste Woche einen neuen Schwerpunkt instead? Is there a difference?

Yes, that is absolutely correct German:

Nächste Woche setzen wir einen neuen Schwerpunkt.
Wir setzen nächste Woche einen neuen Schwerpunkt.

Both are fine. German main clauses are verb‑second (the conjugated verb in 2nd position). You can put a time element like Nächste Woche at the beginning for emphasis, which then pushes the subject wir behind the verb (setzen):

Fronted time: Nächste Woche (1) setzen (2) wir (3) …
Normal subject first: Wir (1) setzen (2) nächste Woche (3) …

The meaning is the same; the first version emphasizes “next week” a bit more.

Why is the verb setzen used here? Literally it means “to set/sit/put”, right?

Yes, setzen literally means “to set / to put (upright)”, but in German it appears in many idiomatic combinations. One of them is:

einen Schwerpunkt setzen – to set / establish a focus, to put the emphasis on something

So in this context:

einen neuen Schwerpunkt setzen ≈ “to introduce a new focus” / “to shift our focus to something new”.

Other similar idioms with setzen include:

Prioritäten setzen – to set priorities
Schwerpunkte setzen – to set (main) focuses / priorities

So it’s a very natural, idiomatic choice here.

Why is it einen neuen Schwerpunkt? Which case is that, and why?

Schwerpunkt is masculine: der Schwerpunkt. In this sentence, it is the direct object of setzen, so it must be in the accusative:

Nominative: ein neuer Schwerpunkt (a new focus is…)
Accusative: einen neuen Schwerpunkt (we set a new focus)

Breakdown:

ein → einen (masculine accusative)
Adjective neu- after an indefinite article in masculine accusative takes -en → neuen
Noun: Schwerpunkt

So: einen neuen Schwerpunkt is “a new focus” in the accusative, as required by the verb setzen.

What exactly does Schwerpunkt mean here?

Literally, Schwerpunkt is “center of gravity” (from schwer = heavy, Punkt = point). Figuratively, it means:

main focus / main emphasis / priority / core topic

In educational or planning contexts, einen Schwerpunkt setzen normally means:

to decide that from now on we will concentrate mainly on X

So here ein neuer Schwerpunkt is a new main focus for the lessons / course / activity.

Why is there a colon before freie Gespräche? How is it used in German?

The colon : in German is used much like in English: to introduce an explanation, list, or specification of what came before.

… setzen wir einen neuen Schwerpunkt: freie Gespräche.

Structure:

Before the colon: the general statement (wir setzen einen neuen Schwerpunkt)
After the colon: the specific content of this focus (freie Gespräche)

Because freie Gespräche is not a full sentence, the first word freie is correctly not capitalized. If what followed the colon were a complete sentence, you would normally begin with a capital letter.

Why is freie Gespräche plural? Could it also be singular like freies Gespräch?

Yes, you could say:

… setzen wir einen neuen Schwerpunkt: das freie Gespräch.

But using the plural freie Gespräche sounds more natural here, because it refers to a general type of activity that will happen repeatedly or in multiple instances:

freie Gespräche – “free conversations” as a recurring activity type
das freie Gespräch – “the free conversation” as a single defined format

So plural emphasizes: we will often/do many free conversations as a focus from now on.

What does frei mean in freie Gespräche? Free of charge, or something else?

In this context, frei does not mean “free of charge” (that would be more like kostenlos).

Here freie Gespräche usually means:

free / open / unstructured conversations, i.e., not strictly guided by exercises, scripts, or a rigid topic plan.

Possible nuances:

The students can choose topics more freely.
The conversation flows more naturally, without strict correction or structure.
It’s about spontaneous, communicative use of the language.

So frei here means “free/open in terms of form or content”, not “free as in no money”.

Why is freie Gespräche with -e on freie if Gespräche is plural?

Adjective endings in the plural with no article (strong declension) use -e in both nominative and accusative:

Nominative plural: freie Gespräche
Accusative plural: freie Gespräche

So even though Gespräche is plural, the adjective ending -e is correct.

Pattern (no article, strong declension):

Nominative plural: gute Bücher, alte Häuser, freie Gespräche
Accusative plural: same endings: gute Bücher, alte Häuser, freie Gespräche

Could I say In der nächsten Woche setzen wir … instead of Nächste Woche setzen wir …? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can:

In der nächsten Woche setzen wir einen neuen Schwerpunkt …

This is grammatically fine. The differences:

Nächste Woche … – very common, neutral, slightly more conversational/compact.
In der nächsten Woche … – a bit more formal or explicit, often used in writing, in official contexts, or when you want to emphasize the time frame more clearly.

Meaning-wise, both are “next week”.

Why is the present tense (setzen wir) used for a future event?

German very often uses the present tense for future events when the time is clear from context:

Nächste Woche setzen wir …
= “Next week we will set …”

This is completely normal and very common, especially in spoken German. You could also use werden:

Nächste Woche werden wir einen neuen Schwerpunkt setzen.

That’s also correct, but the simple present with a time expression is usually preferred if there’s no ambiguity.

Why are Woche, Schwerpunkt, and Gespräche capitalized, but nächste and freie are not?

In German:

All nouns are capitalized:
- Woche, Schwerpunkt, Gespräche
Adjectives are normally not capitalized:
- nächste, neuen, freie

So the capitalization here follows the basic rule:

Nouns: Capital letter
Adjectives and verbs: Lowercase (except at the beginning of a sentence or in special cases like nominalized adjectives, which is not the case here).