Breakdown of Am Gymnasium träumt meine Tochter von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
Questions & Answers about Am Gymnasium träumt meine Tochter von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
No. Gymnasium in German is a type of academic secondary school that prepares students for university. It usually covers grades roughly equivalent to middle school + high school and ends with the Abitur exams.
It does not mean a sports gym. A sports gym in German would be Fitnessstudio, Turnhalle, etc.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different focuses:
am Gymnasium (from an dem) often means at that school / in the context of that school, a bit more abstract or institutional.
- Roughly: At (her) grammar school, my daughter dreams of…
im Gymnasium (from in dem) focuses more on being inside the building / on the premises:
- Roughly: In the school building, my daughter dreams of…
In many contexts about schools and universities, German prefers an:
am Gymnasium, an der Universität, am Institut, etc., when talking about studying/working there, not just being physically inside.
am is a contraction of an dem:
- an = preposition at / on
- dem = dative singular article the (masculine or neuter)
Gymnasium is neuter (das Gymnasium). With a static location (wo? where?), an takes the dative case, so:
- an dem Gymnasium → contracted to am Gymnasium
German main clauses follow the verb-second rule (V2):
- The finite verb (here: träumt) must be in second position in the sentence.
- Position 1 can be any one element: a subject, a time phrase, a place phrase, etc.
In this sentence:
- Am Gymnasium (a prepositional phrase about place) = first element
- träumt = verb in second position
- meine Tochter = subject (comes after the verb here)
- von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis = rest of the sentence
A more neutral order would be:
- Meine Tochter träumt am Gymnasium von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
There, meine Tochter is in first position and träumt is still second.
With träumen, the usual patterns are:
von etwas träumen = to dream of something (both sleeping dreams and life goals)
- Sie träumt von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
She dreams of a very good Abitur certificate.
- Sie träumt von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
über etwas träumen is rare and non‑standard; you normally don’t say über with träumen.
So if you want to say dream of/about something, use träumen von + dative.
The preposition von always takes the dative case.
- Abiturzeugnis is neuter: das Abiturzeugnis.
- The dative singular of the neuter indefinite article (ein) is einem.
So the forms are:
- Nominative: ein Abiturzeugnis
- Accusative: ein Abiturzeugnis
- Dative: einem Abiturzeugnis ← needed after von
Therefore: von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
Abiturzeugnis is a compound noun:
- Abitur (the final school‑leaving exam / qualification)
- Zeugnis (report, certificate)
In German, the last part of a compound decides the gender. Here, Zeugnis is the “head”:
- das Zeugnis → neuter
- so das Abiturzeugnis → also neuter
You usually have to learn the gender of the base word (Zeugnis) and then the whole compound inherits that gender.
Because of case, gender, and article:
- Preposition von → dative.
- Abiturzeugnis → neuter noun (das Abiturzeugnis).
- Article ein in dative neuter → einem.
- After einem in dative singular, adjectives take the ending -en.
So:
- von einem guten Abiturzeugnis = from/of a good Abitur certificate
- Intensifier sehr just means very and does not change the ending:
- von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis
If it were nominative instead (as a subject), you’d get:
- Ein sehr gutes Abiturzeugnis ist wichtig.
(Nominative neuter → gutes instead of guten)
Meine Tochter is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.
- Feminine noun: die Tochter.
- Nominative feminine with mein- → meine Tochter.
The form meiner Tochter is dative (or genitive), for example:
- Ich helfe meiner Tochter.
I help my daughter. (dative after helfen)
In the given sentence, meine Tochter is the one doing the dreaming → nominative is required.
Yes, that’s perfectly correct and very natural. Both orders are grammatical:
- Am Gymnasium träumt meine Tochter von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
- Meine Tochter träumt am Gymnasium von einem sehr guten Abiturzeugnis.
The main difference is emphasis / topic:
- Version 1 puts am Gymnasium in the first position, highlighting the place / school context.
- Version 2 puts meine Tochter first, making her the more natural topic of the sentence.
The factual meaning is the same.
By itself, am Gymnasium is ambiguous:
- It can mean she dreams while she is at that school (physically / in that environment).
- It can also mean more generally: at grammar school age / as a Gymnasium student, she has this dream.
Without context, many readers will understand it as a general statement:
While she is a student at a Gymnasium, she dreams of getting a very good Abitur certificate.
If you clearly want the meaning “as a pupil at that type of school,” you might also say:
- Als Schülerin am Gymnasium träumt meine Tochter von …
As a student at a grammar school, my daughter dreams of …
German loves compound nouns. When two (or more) nouns belong together closely, they are usually combined into one long word:
- das Abitur
- das Zeugnis → das Abiturzeugnis
This is the standard spelling rule: compounds are written as one word (or with hyphens in special cases), not separately as in English.
In German:
- All nouns are capitalized:
- Gymnasium, Tochter, Abiturzeugnis
- Verbs, adjectives, and most other words are not capitalized:
- träumt, von, sehr, gut
This capitalization of all nouns is a key difference between German and English spelling.