Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin.

My sister studies in Berlin.

Breakdown of Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin.

• in: in
• mein: my
• die Schwester: the sister
• Berlin: Berlin
• studieren: to study

Questions & Answers about Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin.

Why is Schwester capitalized, and why does Meine also start with a capital letter?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.
Schwester is a noun, so it always takes a capital S: die Schwester.

Meine is not capitalized because it’s a possessive pronoun; normally it would be written with a lowercase m (meine Schwester).
Here it appears at the beginning of the sentence, and in German (as in English), the first word of a sentence is capitalized. That’s why we see Meine Schwester.

Why is it meine Schwester and not mein Schwester?

The form of mein- changes according to the gender, number, and case of the noun.

• The noun Schwester is feminine singular.
• In this sentence, Schwester is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.

For a feminine singular nominative noun, mein- takes the ending -e: meine Schwester.
Compare:

• mein Bruder (my brother – masculine nominative)
• meine Schwester (my sister – feminine nominative)
• mein Auto (my car – neuter nominative)
• meine Freunde (my friends – plural nominative)

How do I know that Schwester is feminine?

Words for female people are usually feminine in German.
Schwester means “sister,” a female person, so its article is die: die Schwester.

You mainly learn grammatical gender with the noun:

• die Schwester (feminine)
• der Bruder (masculine)
• das Kind (neuter)

There is no completely reliable rule for all nouns; you generally memorize them together with der / die / das.

Why is it studiert and not studiertet, studieren, or something else?

studiert is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb studieren.

The present tense forms are:

• ich studiere
• du studierst
• er/sie/es studiert
• wir studieren
• ihr studiert
• sie/Sie studieren

The subject here is meine Schwester, which is like sie (she) → sie studiert.
So we need studiert.

In English I’d say “is studying.” Why does German use a simple present form studiert?

German does not have a separate continuous tense like English “is studying”.
The simple present in German can express both:

• English “studies”
• English “is studying”

So sie studiert can mean:

• “she studies” (general fact), or
• “she is studying” (current activity)

Context usually makes it clear, but in many cases it doesn’t matter which English version you choose.

What’s the difference between studieren and lernen?

Both mean “to study” or “to learn,” but they are used differently:

• studieren = to study at a university / to do a degree / to study a subject

  • Ich studiere Medizin. – I study medicine / I’m doing a medical degree.
  • Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin. – She is at university there.

• lernen = to learn or study in a more general sense (school, homework, self-study)

  • Ich lerne Deutsch. – I’m learning German.
  • Sie lernt für die Prüfung. – She’s studying for the exam.

So you normally say jemand studiert an der Uni, but jemand lernt eine Sprache or lernt für einen Test.

Why is the verb in second position: Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin? Could I change the order?

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

• Some element in position 1 (often the subject)
• The conjugated verb in position 2
• Everything else after that

Here:

1. Meine Schwester (subject)
2. studiert (verb)
3. in Berlin (prepositional phrase)

You can change the order for emphasis as long as the verb stays second:

• In Berlin studiert meine Schwester. (emphasis on “in Berlin”)
• Heute studiert meine Schwester in Berlin.

But you cannot move studiert out of the second position in a normal statement like this.

Why is the preposition in used? Could it be an or something else?

in is the normal preposition for being “in” a city or country.

• in Berlin – in Berlin
• in Deutschland – in Germany
• in der Stadt – in the city

You might see an used with institutions:

• an der Universität Berlin – at the University of Berlin

So:

• Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin. – location: the city of Berlin
• Meine Schwester studiert an der Universität in Berlin. – more specific: at a university in Berlin

What case does Berlin take after in here?

The preposition in can take either dative (location) or accusative (direction/movement):

• Wo? (where?) → dative
  Sie studiert in Berlin. (She studies in Berlin – location)
• Wohin? (where to?) → accusative
  Sie fährt nach Berlin. (She is going to Berlin – movement)

In this sentence, in Berlin is a location, so it’s dative.
However, the city name Berlin does not change its form in different cases, and it has no article here, so you only see Berlin.

Can I add what she studies, like “My sister studies medicine in Berlin”? How would that look in German?

Yes, you can add the subject she is studying:

• Meine Schwester studiert Medizin in Berlin.

Common structures:

• jemand studiert [Fach] in [Ort]
  
  • Er studiert Physik in München.
  • Sie studiert Jura in Hamburg.

You don’t need a preposition before the subject of study:

• Not: studiert in Medizin → that’s incorrect.

How do I pronounce Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin?

Approximate pronunciation (using English-like hints):

• Meine → MY-nuh (the ei like in “eye”; final -e is a short “uh”)
• Schwester → SHVES-ter
  
  • Sch = “sh”
  • w = like English v
  • stress on the first syllable: SHVES-ter
• studiert → shtoo-DEERT
  
  • st at the beginning of a syllable often sounds like sht
  • u is like “oo”
  • ie is like a long “ee”
• in → like English “in”
• Berlin → behr-LEEN
  
  • stress usually on the second syllable in German: ber-LIN

Spoken smoothly: MY-nuh SHVES-ter shtoo-DEERT in ber-LEEN.

How would I say “My little sister studies in Berlin” or “My older sister studies in Berlin”?

You can add an adjective before Schwester:

• Meine kleine Schwester studiert in Berlin.
  – My little (younger) sister studies in Berlin.

• Meine große Schwester studiert in Berlin.
  – My big (older) sister studies in Berlin.

The possessive meine stays the same (feminine nominative), and the adjectives get -e:

• kleine Schwester
• große Schwester

Is studieren used only for university, or can I also say it for school?

studieren is mainly used for university-level studies or for studying a field/subject:

• Sie studiert Biologie.
• Er studiert an der Uni in Köln.

For school, you normally don’t use studieren. You’d say:

• Sie geht zur Schule. – She goes to school.
• Sie lernt für die Schule. – She studies for school / does schoolwork.

So Meine Schwester studiert in Berlin. strongly suggests she is a university student in Berlin.