Learn Hardcore German: Früher las ich Nachrichten auf vielen Plattformen, aber inzwischen nutze ich nur noch eine Plattform. - I used to read news on many platforms, but now I only use one platform.

las is the simple past (Präteritum) form of lesen:
- ich las
- du last
- er/sie/es las
gelesen is the past participle, used with an auxiliary:
- ich habe gelesen (present perfect)
- ich hatte gelesen (past perfect)

In the sentence “Früher las ich Nachrichten …”, the writer chose simple past. This is very common in written German (especially in narration), even with verbs like lesen. In spoken German, people more often say:

Früher habe ich Nachrichten auf vielen Plattformen gelesen …

Both are grammatically correct; the difference is mostly style and register (written vs spoken), not meaning.

Could I say “Früher habe ich Nachrichten auf vielen Plattformen gelesen” instead of “Früher las ich …”?

Yes, absolutely. Both are correct:

Früher las ich Nachrichten auf vielen Plattformen …
- More typical for written German, storytelling, or a more formal style.
Früher habe ich Nachrichten auf vielen Plattformen gelesen …
- More typical in spoken German and neutral conversation.

They both describe a habitual action in the past (“I used to read news …”). The word “Früher” gives the “used to” idea; the choice of tense doesn’t change that meaning here.

What exactly does “Früher” mean here? Is it just “earlier”?

In this context, “Früher” means roughly “in the past / before / used to”, not just “earlier today”.

It signals a general time period in the past, contrasting with “inzwischen” (nowadays / by now). So:

Früher = at some earlier period in my life / before now
inzwischen = now, by now, these days, after some change has happened

So the sentence expresses:
Before, I used to do X, but now I do Y.

Why is it “Nachrichten” and not singular? How do you say “news” in German?

German “die Nachrichten” is grammatically plural but usually corresponds to English “the news” (which is grammatically singular).

die Nachricht (singular) = a message, a piece of news
die Nachrichten (plural) = the news (as a general concept, or multiple messages)

In this sentence, “Nachrichten” means news in general, like articles, reports, etc. That’s why the plural form is used.

Why is it “auf vielen Plattformen” and not “auf viele Plattformen”?

The preposition “auf” can take dative or accusative, depending on meaning:

Dative: location, “where?” (no movement)
Accusative: direction, “to where?” (movement towards)

Here, the meaning is location / medium:

I read news on many platforms (where?) → dative

So we get:

auf vielen Plattformen (dative plural)

“auf viele Plattformen” (accusative) would mean “onto many platforms” (movement towards them), which doesn’t fit the meaning here.

Why is it “vielen Plattformen” and not “viele Plattformen”?

Because of case and number:

Plattformen is plural of die Plattform.
The preposition “auf” here takes dative (location).
Dative plural for Plattform is (den) Plattformen.
The quantifier “viele” must match:
- Nominative plural: viele Plattformen (e.g. Viele Plattformen sind beliebt.)
- Dative plural: vielen Plattformen (e.g. auf vielen Plattformen)

So “auf vielen Plattformen” is dative plural and therefore correct.

Why is the comma before “aber” there? Do I always put a comma before “aber”?

In this sentence, “aber” connects two main clauses:

Früher las ich Nachrichten auf vielen Plattformen,
aber inzwischen nutze ich nur noch eine Plattform.

When “aber” connects two independent clauses, German spelling rules require a comma before it.

If “aber” is just part of a short phrase (especially inside one clause), the comma can be optional or omitted, e.g.:

Das ist aber schwierig. (no comma)

Here, though, it clearly connects two full clauses, so the comma is mandatory.

Why is it “aber” and not “sondern”? Both mean “but,” right?

Both are often translated as “but”, but they’re used differently:

aber = but / however
- Used for a general contrast.
sondern = but rather / but instead
- Used only after a negation, to correct or replace something previously negated.

Examples:

Ich lese viele Nachrichten, aber ich habe wenig Zeit.
Ich lese nicht viele Nachrichten, sondern nur die wichtigsten.

In your sentence, there is no negation in the first part (“Früher las ich …”). It just contrasts past and present habits, so “aber” is correct, and “sondern” would be wrong.

What does “inzwischen” mean exactly, and how is it different from “jetzt” or “mittlerweile”?

“inzwischen” means roughly “by now / in the meantime / since then / nowadays”. It implies a change over time.

Früher …, aber inzwischen …
= Before …, but by now / these days …

Comparison:

jetzt = now (simple present moment), no necessary contrast
inzwischen / mittlerweile = by now / in the meantime, often implies that something has changed compared to earlier

In this sentence, “inzwischen” works very well, because it contrasts a past habit with a new habit after some change. “mittlerweile” would be a natural synonym here; “jetzt” would also be possible but slightly less expressive of the change.

Is there a difference between “nutze” and “benutze” here? Could I say “benutze”?

You could also say:

… aber inzwischen benutze ich nur noch eine Plattform.

“nutzen” and “benutzen” are very close in meaning and often interchangeable:

nutzen = to use, to make use of, to benefit from
benutzen = to use, to employ (often more concrete / physical, but not strictly)

In the context of digital services / platforms, both are common:

eine App / ein Programm / eine Plattform nutzen
eine App / ein Programm / eine Plattform benutzen

Here, “nutze” sounds very natural and perhaps a bit more modern/abstract, but “benutze” would not be wrong.

What does “nur noch” mean? How is it different from just “nur” or “noch” or “nicht mehr”?

The phrase “nur noch” combines two ideas:

nur = only
noch = still, anymore, yet (depending on context)

Together, “nur noch” often means “only now / down to only / now only” and implies that the amount has decreased compared to before.

In this sentence:

Früher: many platforms
inzwischen: nur noch eine Plattform (it’s been reduced to just one)

Comparisons:

nur eine Plattform = only one platform (no explicit comparison to before)
noch eine Plattform = still one more platform / still one platform
nicht mehr viele Plattformen = not many platforms anymore
nur noch eine Plattform = now only one is left / used, whereas there used to be more

So “nur noch” clearly signals that there used to be more, but now it’s reduced to one.

Why is it “eine Plattform” and not “einer Plattform” or “einen Plattform”?

You need to match gender, number, and case:

die Plattform = feminine, singular
In the sentence, “eine Plattform” is the direct object of nutze → accusative case.
Feminine singular accusative of eine is “eine”.

Forms of “eine” (feminine):

Nominative: eine Plattform (Eine Plattform ist genug.)
Accusative: eine Plattform (Ich nutze eine Plattform.)
Dative: einer Plattform (mit einer Plattform)
Genitive: einer Plattform (wegen einer Plattform)

So for “Ich nutze …”, the correct form is “eine Plattform”.

Why is it “aber inzwischen nutze ich …” and not “aber inzwischen ich nutze …”?

Again, because of the verb‑second rule in German main clauses.

In “aber inzwischen nutze ich nur noch eine Plattform”:

(aber) inzwischen = first element (time adverbial; “aber” is a coordinating conjunction and does not count as the first element)
nutze = second element (finite verb)
ich = third element (subject)

If you said “aber inzwischen ich nutze …”, the verb nutze would be third, which breaks the V2 rule. So the correct word order is:

aber inzwischen nutze ich …

Could I drop the second “ich” and say “… aber inzwischen nutze nur noch eine Plattform”?

No, not in standard German. Unlike Spanish or Italian, German is not a “pro‑drop” language: you normally must state the subject pronoun.

✅ aber inzwischen nutze ich nur noch eine Plattform
❌ aber inzwischen nutze nur noch eine Plattform

The only common cases where the subject is dropped are imperatives (Geh!, Kommt!) and in some fixed expressions. Here, you need “ich” to make the sentence grammatical.

Why is “Früher” capitalized? Is it a noun here?

It’s capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

“früher” is actually an adverb, not a noun, and would normally be written with a lowercase f in the middle of a sentence:

Ich habe früher viele Nachrichten gelesen.

At the beginning of a sentence, every word is capitalized, so you see “Früher”, but it is still grammatically an adverb, not a noun.