Breakdown of Vor der Prüfung lese ich die Fehlerliste in meinem Wörterheft noch einmal.
Questions & Answers about Vor der Prüfung lese ich die Fehlerliste in meinem Wörterheft noch einmal.
Vor is one of the so‑called two-way prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen) in German. It can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:
- Dative → location / time (no movement, static situation)
- Accusative → direction / movement towards something
In Vor der Prüfung lese ich …, the meaning is “before the exam” in a purely temporal sense, not “(moving) in front of the exam”. There is no movement, just a point in time, so German uses the dative:
- Feminine noun die Prüfung
- Dative singular feminine: der Prüfung
- With vor: vor der Prüfung
German main clauses are verb-second (V2): the conjugated verb must be in second position in the sentence.
German counts positions of elements, not individual words. So if you move a time expression like Vor der Prüfung to the front, that whole phrase becomes position 1. The finite verb must then be position 2, and the subject comes after it:
Neutral order: Ich lese vor der Prüfung die Fehlerliste …
- Position 1: Ich
- Position 2: lese
With fronted time phrase: Vor der Prüfung lese ich die Fehlerliste …
- Position 1: Vor der Prüfung
- Position 2: lese
- Position 3: ich
Both sentences are correct. The version in your example emphasises the time (“Before the exam, I read …”).
Yes, lese is correct, because the subject is ich (I).
The verb lesen (to read) is irregular:
- ich lese – I read
- du liest – you read (singular, informal)
- er/sie/es liest – he/she/it reads
- wir lesen – we read
- ihr lest – you (plural, informal) read
- sie/Sie lesen – they / you (formal) read
In the sentence, the subject is ich, so the verb must be ich lese, not ich liest.
Fehlerliste is a compound noun:
- der Fehler – mistake, error
- die Liste – list
In German compounds, the gender is determined by the last part of the compound. The last part here is Liste, which is feminine:
- die Liste → therefore die Fehlerliste
In the sentence, die Fehlerliste is the direct object of lesen (What do I read? → the error list), so it is in the accusative case. But for feminine nouns, nominative and accusative look the same:
- Nominative feminine: die Fehlerliste
- Accusative feminine: die Fehlerliste
So die here is both feminine and accusative.
In meinem Wörterheft literally means “in my vocabulary notebook”.
Two important points:
The preposition in
In is another two-way preposition. It takes- dative = location (where something is)
- accusative = direction (movement into something)
Here we have a static location: the list is in the notebook, not being moved into it, so we use dative.
The noun Wörterheft
- das Heft → neuter
- das Wörterheft → still neuter
Dative singular neuter with mein is: meinem.
So:
- Preposition in
- location → dative case
- das Wörterheft (neuter) → dative singular: dem Wörterheft
- With mein: in meinem Wörterheft
All three exist, but they mean slightly different things:
das Wörterheft
Literally “word notebook”. Usually a personal notebook students use to write down words, vocabulary, and notes. That fits your sentence well.das Vokabelheft
Very common word in school context. Also a vocabulary notebook, often structured by lessons or themes. Wörterheft and Vokabelheft can overlap a lot in practice.das Wörterbuch
Dictionary (book, digital, etc.). Not a notebook you write in, but something you look things up in.
So Fehlerliste in meinem Wörterheft suggests a personally written list of mistakes in your own vocab notebook, not a printed dictionary list.
German has two plural forms for Wort:
- Wörter – individual words, as separate vocabulary items
- Worte – words as a connected expression (e.g. a speech, a quote, “wise words”)
Since a vocabulary notebook deals with individual words, German uses Wörter:
- das Wort → die Wörter (vocabulary items)
- das Wort → die Worte (connected speech, “his last words”)
So a notebook for learning vocabulary is a Wörterheft, not a Worteheft.
Both can translate as “again”, but they have different nuances:
noch einmal = one more time, once more
- Emphasises repeating an action one more time, often deliberately or as a last or extra time.
- Fits well with revision before an exam: I read the error list once more (before the exam).
wieder = again, in general
- Neutral “again”, can be used for repeated or recurring actions.
- In this context Ich lese die Fehlerliste wieder is possible, but it doesn’t highlight the idea of one last review as clearly.
So noch einmal here suggests a conscious final repetition before the exam.
It can move, but not everywhere. In your sentence:
- Vor der Prüfung lese ich die Fehlerliste in meinem Wörterheft noch einmal. ✔️
(Neutral and very natural)
Possible variations:
Vor der Prüfung lese ich noch einmal die Fehlerliste in meinem Wörterheft. ✔️
(Slightly more focus on the act of re-reading.)Ich lese vor der Prüfung die Fehlerliste in meinem Wörterheft noch einmal. ✔️
(Neutral order with ich first.)
Putting noch einmal right after the verb can work:
- Vor der Prüfung lese ich noch einmal die Fehlerliste … ✔️
But putting noch einmal at the very beginning would sound odd here:
- Noch einmal vor der Prüfung lese ich … ✖️ (unnatural in this context)
General rule: adverbials like noch einmal are often placed near the end, before or after the object, depending on emphasis.
In modern German punctuation, you do not put a comma between a fronted adverbial phrase and the main clause.
So:
- Vor der Prüfung lese ich … ✔️ (no comma)
- Am Wochenende fahre ich nach Berlin. ✔️ (no comma)
You would use a comma if what comes first is a subordinate clause:
- Bevor ich die Prüfung schreibe, lese ich die Fehlerliste noch einmal. ✔️
Here Bevor ich die Prüfung schreibe is a full subordinate clause, so it takes a comma.
But Vor der Prüfung is just a prepositional phrase (not a clause), so no comma.
Yes, you can say:
- Vor dem Test lese ich die Fehlerliste in meinem Wörterheft noch einmal.
Differences:
die Prüfung
- Often more formal, official: an exam at school, university, an official language exam, a driving test, etc.
der Test
- Often more general or informal: a quiz, test, short assessment, sometimes less formal than Prüfung (but there is overlap).
Grammatically, Test is masculine:
- Dative masculine singular: dem Test
- With vor
- dative: vor dem Test
So vor der Prüfung and vor dem Test are both correct; the choice is mainly style/meaning, not grammar.
Die Fehlerliste is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb lesen.
To find the direct object in German, you can often use the question “Wen oder was …?” (whom or what?):
- Wen oder was lese ich?
→ die Fehlerliste → direct object → accusative
Since Fehlerliste is feminine, its forms are:
- Nominative: die Fehlerliste
- Accusative: die Fehlerliste
So the form doesn’t change, but its function in the sentence tells you it is accusative.