Learn Hardcore German: Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr. - The seminar starts today at nine o’clock.

In German, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine (der), feminine (die) or neuter (das).
Seminar happens to be neuter, so it takes the article das in the nominative singular:

das Seminar – the seminar

There is no fully reliable rule that tells you the gender just from looking at the word; you usually have to learn it with the noun:

das Seminar (neuter)
der Kurs (masculine) – the course
die Vorlesung (feminine) – the lecture

So the sentence starts with Das Seminar because the noun Seminar is neuter and is the subject of the sentence in the nominative case.

What case is das Seminar, and why?

Das Seminar is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence – the thing that is performing the action.

Basic pattern:

Das Seminar (subject, nominative)
beginnt (verb)
heute um neun Uhr (adverbial information about time)

The nominative answers “who/what is doing something?”:

Wer / was beginnt? – Das Seminar.

Why is the verb beginnt in second position? Could the word order be different?

German main clauses generally obey the verb-second rule (V2): the conjugated verb must be in the second position (not necessarily the second word).

In Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr.:

Das Seminar – first element (subject)
beginnt – verb in second position
heute um neun Uhr – everything else

You can move another element to the first position, but the verb still has to stay second:

Heute beginnt das Seminar um neun Uhr.
Um neun Uhr beginnt das Seminar heute.

The meaning is the same; you just change what you emphasize. What you may not do in a normal statement is put the finite verb somewhere other than second place:

❌ Das Seminar heute um neun Uhr beginnt. (wrong word order)

Why is German using the present tense (beginnt) for a future event?

German very often uses the present tense to talk about future events, especially when they are scheduled or clearly in the future from context.

Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr.
= The seminar begins / will begin today at nine o’clock.

You can form a future tense with werden:

Das Seminar wird heute um neun Uhr beginnen.

…but in everyday German that sounds more formal or more emphatic. For simple, planned events (timetables, appointments, etc.), the present tense is normal and natural. Context and time expressions (like heute, morgen) make it clear it’s about the future.

What does heute do here, and can it go somewhere else in the sentence?

Heute means today and gives information about when the seminar begins.

In Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr., heute stands in the middle field after the verb, before um neun Uhr. That’s a very typical place for adverbs of time.

You can move heute for emphasis or style:

Heute beginnt das Seminar um neun Uhr.
(Emphasis on today; “Today, the seminar starts at nine.”)
Das Seminar beginnt um neun Uhr heute.
(Possible, but sounds less natural; it’s more common to put heute before um neun Uhr.)

All of these are grammatically correct; the default, neutral version is the one you see in the original sentence.

Why do we use um with the time (um neun Uhr) instead of another preposition?

In time expressions, um is the standard preposition for a specific clock time:

um neun Uhr – at nine o’clock
um 14 Uhr – at 2 p.m.
um Mitternacht – at midnight

Compare with other time-related prepositions:

am Dienstag – on Tuesday (days, dates)
im Juni – in June (months, seasons, years: im Sommer, im Jahr 2020)
gegen neun Uhr – around nine o’clock (approximate time)
ab neun Uhr – from nine o’clock onward (starting point in time)

So um neun Uhr specifically means “at exactly nine o’clock.”

Do I always have to say Uhr, or could I just say Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun?

In many everyday contexts, you can drop Uhr, especially in speech, if it’s clear you’re talking about clock time:

Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun. (very natural in conversation)

However:

In more formal or written German, Uhr is often included: um neun Uhr.
If there’s any chance of confusion (e.g. um vier could be “for four (people)” in another sentence), Uhr helps clarify that it’s about the time of day.

So both are possible; um neun Uhr is the “full” form, um neun is shorter and very common in spoken German.

How do Germans normally say times like neun Uhr? What about 9 p.m.?

Neun Uhr on its own is 9:00, usually understood as 9 a.m. if not otherwise specified and if context makes sense.

To be more precise:

neun Uhr morgens – 9 a.m.
neun Uhr abends – 9 p.m.

In many contexts (especially timetables, official times), German uses the 24‑hour clock:

9:00 → neun Uhr
21:00 → einundzwanzig Uhr, often shortened in speech to neunzehn Uhr or zwanzig Uhr etc. depending on time (but strictly: 21:00 = einundzwanzig Uhr)

In everyday speech, many people still say times in a 12‑hour way and add morgens, nachmittags, abends, etc., if needed.

Could I say Das Seminar fängt heute um neun Uhr an instead of beginnt? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Das Seminar fängt heute um neun Uhr an.

This uses the verb anfangen (to begin, to start), which is a separable verb:

infinitive: anfangen
present, 3rd person: fängt … an

In a main clause, the conjugated part (fängt) goes in second position, and the prefix (an) goes to the end:

Das Seminar – first element
fängt – verb (second position)
heute um neun Uhr – middle field
an – separable prefix at the end

Beginnen and anfangen are very close in meaning:

beginnen is slightly more formal or neutral.
anfangen is more colloquial and very common in everyday speech.

Both sentences are correct and mean practically the same thing.

How is Seminar pronounced in German? Is it like in English?

It’s similar but not identical. In German Seminar:

Stress is on the last syllable: se-mi-NAR.
The s at the beginning is like English z: [ze-], not like s in see.
e in the first syllable is like the e in bed, not like a schwa.
The r at the end is usually a soft, almost vowel-like sound in many accents (especially in Germany).

Approximate IPA: [ze.miˈnaːɐ̯]

So it’s close to “ze-mee-NAHR” rather than English “SEM-in-ar.”

Why is Seminar capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.

So:

Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr.
Seminare sind oft am Nachmittag.
Ein interessantes Seminar …

This is one of the most visible differences from English. Adjectives, verbs, and adverbs are not capitalized (unless they start a sentence or are part of a proper noun), but nouns always are.

How would I turn this into a yes/no question: “Does the seminar start today at nine o’clock?”

For a yes/no question in German, you put the conjugated verb first:

Beginnt das Seminar heute um neun Uhr?

Structure:

Beginnt – verb first
das Seminar – subject
heute um neun Uhr – time information

You do not add a dummy “do” like in English; the verb itself moves to the front to form a question.

Can I change the order of heute and um neun Uhr, and does it change the meaning?

You can switch them, and the basic meaning stays the same:

Das Seminar beginnt heute um neun Uhr. (neutral, very natural)
Das Seminar beginnt um neun Uhr heute. (understandable but less typical)

Both say that the seminar starts today at nine o’clock. The first version simply sounds more idiomatic. If you really wanted to emphasize today, you’d more likely move heute to the very beginning:

Heute beginnt das Seminar um neun Uhr.

Word order within time expressions is flexible, but native speakers strongly prefer heute um neun Uhr over um neun Uhr heute in this sentence.