Learn Hardcore German: Am Abend schreibe ich meine Gefühle kurz in mein Wörterheft. - In the evening I briefly write my feelings into my vocabulary notebook.

German main clauses follow the verb‑second (V2) rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position, but only one element can be in first position.

Your sentence: Am Abend (1st position) schreibe (2nd position) ich meine Gefühle kurz in mein Wörterheft.
You can absolutely say: Ich schreibe am Abend meine Gefühle kurz in mein Wörterheft.
Here, Ich is 1st, schreibe is 2nd.

Both are correct. Starting with Am Abend puts more emphasis on the time (“In the evening is when I do this”), while starting with Ich emphasizes the subject (“I do this in the evening”).

Could I say Am Abend ich schreibe meine Gefühle … like in English “In the evening I write …”?

No. In German the finite verb must be in second position in a main clause.

✅ Am Abend schreibe ich …
✅ Ich schreibe am Abend …
❌ Am Abend ich schreibe …

In English you can have “In the evening, I write …” (subject right after the time expression). In German, the verb has to come right after that first element instead.

What exactly does kurz mean here? Is it “short” or “briefly,” and why is it in that position?

In this sentence, kurz means “briefly / for a short time”, not “physically short.”

Am Abend schreibe ich meine Gefühle kurz in mein Wörterheft.
= “In the evening I briefly write my feelings in my vocabulary notebook.”

About the position: adverbs like kurz are quite flexible. Here it comes after the direct object (meine Gefühle) and before the prepositional phrase (in mein Wörterheft). Other natural options:

Am Abend schreibe ich kurz meine Gefühle in mein Wörterheft. (slightly more emphasis on how briefly)
With the separable verb aufschreiben you might hear:
Am Abend schreibe ich meine Gefühle kurz in mein Wörterheft auf.

All of these are grammatically fine; the differences are subtle in normal speech.

Why is it meine Gefühle (plural)? Could I also say mein Gefühl (singular)?

Gefühl = feeling, emotion.
Gefühle = feelings, emotions.

meine Gefühle suggests you are writing down various emotions, e.g. happiness, sadness, frustration.
mein Gefühl would mean one specific feeling or an overall feeling (e.g. “my feeling is that…” / “my general feeling”).

Both can be grammatically correct, but they mean slightly different things:

Ich schreibe meine Gefühle auf. = I write down my (various) feelings.
Ich schreibe mein Gefühl auf. = I write down this (one) feeling / my overall feeling.

In everyday talk about journaling, meine Gefühle (plural) is more typical.

What case is meine Gefühle in, and how can I tell?

meine Gefühle is in the accusative case as the direct object of the verb schreibe.

Subject (nominative): ich
Verb: schreibe
Direct object (accusative): meine Gefühle
Prepositional phrase: in mein Wörterheft

You can see it’s accusative plural by the ending ‑e on meine:

Nominative plural: meine Gefühle (as subject)
Accusative plural: meine Gefühle (same form)

In plural, nominative and accusative often look identical; you recognize the case mostly by the function in the sentence (here: “What do I write?” – meine Gefühle).

Why is it in mein Wörterheft and not in meinem Wörterheft?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative (it’s a “two‑way” preposition):

Dative = location (where something is)
Accusative = direction / movement (into, to)

In your sentence, you are writing into the notebook (movement toward a place), so you need accusative:

in mein Wörterheft (accusative, direction)

Compare:

Ich schreibe in mein Wörterheft.
= I write into my notebook. (I’m putting words in it.)
Es steht in meinem Wörterheft.
= It is in my notebook. (Location → dative meinem.)

So mein Wörterheft here is neuter, accusative singular:
das Wörterheft → in mein Wörterheft.

What exactly is a Wörterheft? Why not just say Heft?

Wörterheft is a compound noun:

Wörter = words (individual lexical items)
Heft = notebook

So Wörterheft literally means “word notebook / vocabulary notebook” – a notebook specifically used to write down words (and possibly translations, examples, etc.).

You could say:

in mein Heft = in my notebook (general)

…but in mein Wörterheft tells you what kind of notebook it is.

Why is it Wörter and not Worte in Wörterheft?

Wort has two plural forms with slightly different uses:

Wörter = individual, countable words as items in a list
- ein Wörterbuch = dictionary (book of individual words)
- ein Wörterheft = vocabulary notebook
Worte = “words” in a more collective or abstract sense (what someone says)
- seine letzten Worte = his last words
- einige freundliche Worte = a few kind words (as a short speech)

A Wörterheft is about single vocabulary items, so Wörter is the correct plural here.

Why are Abend, Gefühle, and Wörterheft capitalized, but ich is not?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence:

Abend – evening (noun)
Gefühle – feelings (noun)
Wörterheft – vocabulary notebook (noun)

Pronouns like ich are not capitalized in the middle of a sentence (unlike English I). They are only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence or in very formal letters for Sie / Ihnen.

So:

Am Abend schreibe ich meine Gefühle …
Nouns: Abend, Gefühle, Wörterheft → capitalized
Pronoun: ich → lower-case.

How is schreiben conjugated here, and why is it schreibe with ich?

schreiben is the infinitive (“to write”). In the present tense:

ich schreibe
du schreibst
er / sie / es schreibt
wir schreiben
ihr schreibt
sie / Sie schreiben

With ich, you use the ‑e ending: ich schreibe.

So Am Abend schreibe ich … is “I write / I am writing in the evening.”

(For reference, schreiben is irregular in the past: ich schrieb, ich habe geschrieben.)

Could I also say Am Abend schreibe ich kurz meine Gefühle in mein Wörterheft? Is that different from the original?

Yes, that sentence is also correct:

Am Abend schreibe ich meine Gefühle kurz in mein Wörterheft.
Am Abend schreibe ich kurz meine Gefühle in mein Wörterheft.

Both sound natural. The second version puts kurz slightly closer to the verb, which can give a tiny bit more focus to the manner (“briefly”) rather than to meine Gefühle as the object. In everyday conversation, the difference is very small; both would be understood the same way.

What’s the difference between am Abend, abends, heute Abend, and jeden Abend?

All relate to “evening,” but they’re used a bit differently:

am Abend
- Literally “on the evening.”
- Can mean this evening from context, or (in general) in the evening in descriptions of routine.
abends
- Means “in the evenings / in the evening (regularly)”, strongly habitual.
- Abends schreibe ich meine Gefühle auf. = I (usually) write my feelings down in the evenings.
heute Abend
- “this evening / tonight.” A specific evening.
jeden Abend
- “every evening.” Clearly a regular habit.

In your original sentence, Am Abend schreibe ich … can be understood as a routine if used in a context like “This is my daily habit,” but abends or jeden Abend make that habitual meaning more explicit.

Why is there no special progressive form like “I am writing”? Does ich schreibe mean both “I write” and “I am writing”?

Yes. German does not have a separate progressive tense like English “I am writing.” The simple present covers both:

Ich schreibe.
= “I write.” or “I am writing.”
Am Abend schreibe ich meine Gefühle …
= “In the evening I write my feelings …” / “In the evening I am writing my feelings …”

Context usually makes it clear whether it’s a habit (I regularly do this) or an action happening right now. If you really want to stress “right now,” you can add an adverb like gerade:

Ich schreibe gerade meine Gefühle in mein Wörterheft.
= I am writing my feelings in my notebook right now.