Breakdown of Nachts liege ich unter der Bettdecke und lese noch ein paar Seiten.
Questions & Answers about Nachts liege ich unter der Bettdecke und lese noch ein paar Seiten.
Nachts is an adverb meaning “at night / during the night (generally, on nights)”.
It is formed from die Nacht + -s, and this -s ending is common in German for time expressions that mean “in the …(time of day)… (habitually / generally)”:
- nachts – at night, on nights (in general)
- morgens – in the mornings
- abends – in the evenings
Because nachts works as an adverb, you do not use an article with it.
If you say in der Nacht, that is more like “in the night / during the night” in a more specific sense (a particular night or a more concrete situation), whereas nachts sounds more like a general habit:
- Nachts liege ich unter der Bettdecke… – At night (as a habit) I lie under the blanket…
- In der Nacht lag ich lange wach. – During the night I lay awake for a long time.
German main clauses require the finite verb (conjugated verb) to be in second position – this is the V2 rule.
“Second position” means second element, not second word. So:
- Nachts = first element (a time adverb)
- liege = second element → the verb goes here
- ich = third element (the subject)
So: Nachts liege ich… is correct V2 word order.
Nachts ich liege… would violate the V2 rule because the verb would no longer be the second element.
You could also say:
- Ich liege nachts unter der Bettdecke…
Here ich is the first element, liege is second. Both versions are correct; you just choose which element you want to put in first position for emphasis (time, place, subject, etc.).
The preposition unter can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:
- Dative = location (where something is)
- Accusative = direction / movement (where something is going)
In the sentence:
- Ich liege unter der Bettdecke.
you are describing a static location (“I am lying under the blanket”), so you use dative:
- unter + der Bettdecke → dative feminine singular
If it were about movement, you’d use accusative:
- Ich krieche unter die Bettdecke. – I crawl under the blanket. (movement to a place → accusative)
The base form (nominative singular) is:
- die Bettdecke – the blanket / duvet
But German articles change their form depending on case. Here, unter with a location meaning requires dative:
- Feminine:
- Nominative: die Bettdecke
- Accusative: die Bettdecke
- Dative: der Bettdecke
- Genitive: der Bettdecke
So der here is not masculine; it is dative feminine singular.
Therefore:
- unter der Bettdecke = under the blanket (location, so dative)
- die Bettdecke literally means “bed blanket”, i.e. a duvet or comforter you sleep under.
- die Decke by itself is more general:
- die Decke = ceiling
- die Decke = blanket (context decides)
So unter der Bettdecke makes it clear you are under the blanket on your bed, not under a ceiling or some other kind of cover. In everyday speech, people might also say:
- unter der Decke – if it’s clear from context that it’s a bed blanket.
But Bettdecke is the unambiguous word specifically for the blanket you sleep under.
Both liege (from liegen) and lese (from lesen) are in the Präsens (present tense).
German Präsens can express:
- present actions: what is happening now
- habitual actions: what happens regularly
- near future, in some contexts
In English, we would typically translate this sentence as:
- “At night I lie under the blanket and read a few more pages.”
or more naturally: - “At night I lie under the blanket and read a few more pages (of my book).”
In context, native speakers would usually understand this as a habitual action (something you often or always do at night), even though it’s grammatically just present tense.
noch is very flexible, but in this sentence it means roughly “still / some more / additionally before stopping”.
Ich lese ein paar Seiten.
→ I read a few pages.
Ich lese noch ein paar Seiten.
→ I read a few more pages / I read some more pages (before I stop or go to sleep).
So noch suggests:
- this is additional reading (on top of what you’ve already read), or
- you are doing it before the next step (for example, before falling asleep).
It gives the sense of “I’m not done yet; I’ll read a few more pages.”
They are different words:
ein paar (lowercase p)
- Means “a few, some” (an indefinite small number).
- Not a strict pair, just a small quantity.
- Example:
- Ich lese noch ein paar Seiten. – I read a few more pages.
- Ich habe ein paar Fragen. – I have a few questions.
ein Paar (capital P)
- Means “a pair, a couple (two matching items)”.
- Usually exactly two things that belong together.
- Example:
- ein Paar Schuhe – a pair of shoes
- ein Paar Socken – a pair of socks
In the sentence ein paar Seiten, it must be the lower-case paar, meaning “a few pages”, not “a pair of pages”.
die Seite = page (singular)
die Seiten = pages (plural)
The phrase ein paar already implies more than one (a few), so it must be followed by a plural noun:
- ein paar Seiten – a few pages
- ein paar Minuten – a few minutes
- ein paar Freunde – a few friends
If you said eine Seite, that would mean “one page”:
- Ich lese noch eine Seite. – I’ll read one more page.
So ein paar Seiten = “a few pages”, and that’s why Seiten is plural.
In German, und can join:
- words: Buch und Heft
- phrases: morgens und abends
- or clauses: Ich liege … und lese …
When two main clauses (with the same subject) are joined by und, no comma is required if the subject is not repeated and the clauses are short and closely connected, as in this sentence:
- Nachts liege ich unter der Bettdecke und lese noch ein paar Seiten.
Here, ich is the subject for both liege and lese, so one subject is shared, and the whole thing is treated as one flow of actions. No comma is standard.
You could add the subject again for emphasis:
- Nachts liege ich unter der Bettdecke, und ich lese noch ein paar Seiten.
In that case, a comma is possible (and often used) because now you clearly have two full clauses:
(ich liege …) and (ich lese …).
Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct:
- Ich liege nachts unter der Bettdecke und lese noch ein paar Seiten.
The meaning is the same. The difference is mainly emphasis and style:
Nachts liege ich…
– puts more emphasis on Nachts (“At night, I lie…”). The time frame is highlighted.Ich liege nachts…
– puts ich in first position, which is the neutral, default pattern, and nachts becomes a less emphasized time adverb within the sentence.
Both are common and grammatical; German word order is fairly flexible as long as the finite verb stays in second position.
Yes, you can say:
- Nachts liege ich unter meiner Bettdecke und lese noch ein paar Seiten.
Here, the preposition unter still requires dative for location, so the possessive determiner must be in dative feminine singular to match Bettdecke:
- Nominative feminine: meine Bettdecke
- Accusative feminine: meine Bettdecke
- Dative feminine: meiner Bettdecke
- Genitive feminine: meiner Bettdecke
So:
- unter meiner Bettdecke – under my blanket (dative)
The structure and meaning stay the same; you only add the possessive meiner instead of the definite article der.