Vor der Prüfung lese ich die Fehlerliste laut und verbessere die Sätze.

Die Prüfung is the basic form (nominative singular, feminine): die Prüfung = the exam.

After the preposition vor in a temporal sense (“before [some time/event]”), German uses the dative case.

The feminine definite article in the dative singular is der, not die:

• Nominative: die Prüfung (the exam)
• Dative: der Prüfung (to/for/before the exam)

So: Vor der Prüfung literally = Before the exam (with der because of the dative case).

In this sentence, vor means “before” in a temporal sense (before a point in time / before an event).

German vor can be:

• Spatial: “in front of”
  • vor dem Haus – in front of the house (dative = location)
  • Ich stelle das Auto vor das Haus. – I put the car in front of the house. (accusative = direction)
• Temporal: “before / ago”
  • Vor der Prüfung – before the exam
  • Vor einem Jahr – a year ago

For time expressions, vor is used with the dative. That’s why we have der Prüfung (dative), not die Prüfung (nominative).

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule:

• The finite verb (here: lese) must be in second position in the sentence.
• “Second position” means second element, not necessarily the second word.

In Vor der Prüfung lese ich…:

1. Vor der Prüfung = first element (a time phrase)
2. lese = second element → the verb is correctly in second position
3. ich = third element

You cannot say Vor der Prüfung ich lese… because then the verb (lese) is no longer in the second position, which breaks the V2 rule.

The “normal” neutral order would be:

• Ich lese vor der Prüfung die Fehlerliste laut.

But it’s very common to put a time expression first for emphasis or structure:

• Vor der Prüfung lese ich die Fehlerliste laut.

Yes, Ich lese vor der Prüfung die Fehlerliste laut und verbessere die Sätze is perfectly correct.

Main differences:

• Vor der Prüfung lese ich…

  • Starts with the time phrase → slightly emphasizes “before the exam”.
  • Often used to structure a narrative in time (Before the exam…, During the exam…, After the exam…).

• Ich lese vor der Prüfung…

  • Starts with the subject ich → more neutral, basic sentence structure.
  • Still clearly says “I do this before the exam.”

Grammatically both are fine; the choice is mainly about emphasis and style.

laut here is an adverb meaning “aloud / out loud”. German adverbs—especially of manner (how?)—often come towards the end of the clause, especially after the object:

• Ich lese die Fehlerliste laut.

Other possible (still correct) orders:

• Ich lese laut die Fehlerliste. (sounds a bit less usual, but possible)
• Ich lese die Fehlerliste laut vor der Prüfung. (manner before time)
• Ich lese vor der Prüfung die Fehlerliste laut. (time before object and manner, which is very natural)

So yes, laut can be moved, but placing it after the direct object (die Fehlerliste) is very typical and sounds natural.

Not exactly.

• laut lesen = to read aloud (focusing on the manner of reading – with your voice)
  • You might be reading to yourself but out loud, or to others.
• vorlesen (a separable verb: ich lese vor) = to read (something) to someone
  
  • Focus is on reading something to an audience (children, a class, a friend).
  • Implies there is a listener.

Examples:

• Ich lese die Fehlerliste laut. – I read the list out loud (so I can hear it myself, for example).
• Ich lese den Kindern eine Geschichte vor. – I read a story to the children.

In your sentence, the focus is on how you read the list for your own preparation, so laut fits very well.

Fehlerliste is a compound noun, made from:

• der Fehler – mistake, error
• die Liste – list

Put together: die Fehlerliste = the list of mistakes / error list.

In German, compounds are usually written as one word:

• Fehler
  • Liste → Fehlerliste
• Haus
  • Tür → Haustür (front door)
• Deutsch
  • Lehrer → Deutschlehrer (German teacher)

The gender of the whole compound is determined by the last part:

• die Liste is feminine → die Fehlerliste is also feminine.

Plural:

• die Fehlerliste → die Fehlerlisten

Sätze is the plural of der Satz (sentence).

Many German nouns form their plural by:

1. Adding -e, and
2. Adding an Umlaut to the stem vowel (if possible).

So:

• Singular: der Satz
• Plural: die Sätze

Other examples with the same pattern:

• der Tag → die Tage (no umlaut here, just -e)
• der Wald → die Wälder
• der Apfel → die Äpfel

Note: Satz has multiple meanings (sentence, set, jump, etc.), but the plural Sätze with an umlaut is standard for the “sentence” meaning.

verbessern means “to correct / to improve” something.

In this sentence:

• ich verbessere die Sätze = I correct the sentences or I improve the sentences (e.g., fix mistakes found on the error list).

verbessere is the 1st person singular, present tense form of verbessern:

• ich verbessere
• du verbesserst
• er/sie/es verbessert
• wir verbessern
• ihr verbessert
• sie/Sie verbessern

There is no separable prefix here; ver- is an inseparable prefix, so the verb does not split:

• Ich verbessere die Sätze. (correct)
• Not: Ich bessere die Sätze ver. (incorrect)

Grammatically, yes:

• Ich werde die Sätze verbessern. = I will correct the sentences.

However, in German, the present tense is often used to talk about future actions, especially when the time is clear from context or an explicit time phrase:

• Morgen verbessere ich die Sätze. – I’ll correct the sentences tomorrow.

In your sentence, with Vor der Prüfung, the time is already clear and future relative to “now”, so the simple present is more natural:

• Vor der Prüfung verbessere ich die Sätze.

You’d generally use werde verbessern for stronger emphasis on the future or planning, but it’s not necessary here.

Because bevor and vor are different types of words:

• vor is a preposition → followed by a noun phrase in a case (here: dative)
  • Vor der Prüfung lese ich… – Before the exam, I read…
• bevor is a subordinating conjunction → followed by a full clause (subject + verb)

So you cannot say Bevor der Prüfung lese ich…. You must have a full clause after bevor:

• Bevor ich die Prüfung schreibe/mache, lese ich die Fehlerliste laut und verbessere die Sätze.
  = Before I take the exam, I read the list of errors out loud and correct the sentences.

Both structures are correct, but:

• vor + dative noun → Vor der Prüfung…
• bevor + clause → Bevor ich die Prüfung mache…

ich verbessere mich means “I improve myself” (I become a better person / I get better at something).

In your sentence, you are not “improving yourself” directly; you are correcting the sentences. The object that changes is die Sätze, not ich.

• ich verbessere die Sätze – I correct/improve the sentences. (the sentences change)
• ich verbessere mich – I improve myself. (I change)

So you need a direct object (die Sätze) after verbessern here.

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of where they are in the sentence.

• die Prüfung – noun → capitalized
• die Fehlerliste – noun → capitalized
• die Sätze – noun → capitalized

Verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are usually not capitalized (unless they are at the beginning of a sentence or used as nouns):

• lese (from lesen) – verb → lowercase
• verbessere (from verbessern) – verb → lowercase
• laut – adverb → lowercase

So capitalization here is simply following the standard German rule: nouns are written with a capital letter.