Learn Hardcore German: Beim Sport verletze ich mir leicht die Schulter, wenn ich mich nicht aufwärme. - When doing sports I easily injure my shoulder if I don’t warm up.

bei (dem) Sport = while doing sport / during sports / when I’m doing sports
im (in dem) Sport usually means in the field of sport or in sports (as an area, profession, discipline), not while doing sport.

So Beim Sport verletze ich … means When I’m doing sports / While doing sports I ….
If you said Im Sport verletze ich …, it would sound more like In the world of sport I get injured …, which is not what is meant here.

Why do we have both mir and die Schulter? Isn’t that like saying “I injure me the shoulder”?

Yes, literally ich verletze mir die Schulter is close to I injure myself the shoulder, and that structure is very normal in German.

die Schulter is the direct object (accusative) – the thing that gets injured.
mir is a dative pronoun, showing who is affected/whose body part it is (a kind of “to myself / on myself”).

This “dative person + body part” pattern is extremely common with body parts:

Ich wasche mir die Hände. – I wash my hands.
Er hat sich den Arm gebrochen. – He broke his arm.
Beim Sport verletze ich mir die Schulter. – When doing sports I (easily) injure my shoulder.

So mir is not redundant; it encodes that it’s my shoulder that is being injured and that I am the affected person.

What is the difference between ich verletze mich and ich verletze mir die Schulter?

Ich verletze mich.
= I (am) injure myself.
This is general and does not say where you hurt yourself.
Ich verletze mir die Schulter.
= I injure my shoulder.
This specifies the body part, using the typical German pattern dative person + body part.

In the example sentence:

Beim Sport verletze ich mir leicht die Schulter …
focuses specifically on the shoulder.

You could say:

Beim Sport verletze ich mich leicht. – I easily hurt myself when doing sports.

but that wouldn’t highlight the shoulder, only the fact that you tend to get hurt.

Why is it die Schulter and not meine Schulter?

With body parts, German often prefers:

dative pronoun (person) + definite article + body part

instead of using a possessive like meine:

Ich wasche mir die Hände. (more idiomatic)
vs. Ich wasche meine Hände. (possible but less natural in this context)
Er hat sich den Fuß verstaucht.
Sie kämmte sich die Haare.

Similarly:

Ich verletze mir die Schulter. (very natural)
Ich verletze mir meine Schulter. (grammatical but sounds heavy/awkward)

Because mir already shows that it’s my body, German doesn’t need meine here; die Schulter is enough and is the standard way to say it.

What case are mir and die Schulter in, and why?

die Schulter is in the accusative: it is the direct object of verletzen (what is injured? → the shoulder).
- Nominative: die Schulter
- Accusative: die Schulter (same form for feminine nouns)
mir is dative: it marks the affected person/possessor.
- Nominative: ich
- Accusative: mich
- Dative: mir

So the structure is:

ich (subject, nominative)
verletze (verb)
mir (indirect object, dative, the person affected)
die Schulter (direct object, accusative, the thing injured)

Why is leicht placed between mir and die Schulter? Could it go somewhere else?

In Beim Sport verletze ich mir leicht die Schulter, leicht is an adverb meaning easily / readily.

Typical word order rules here:

Short pronouns (like mir) tend to come before other elements.
Adverbs of manner (how?) like leicht usually come before the main noun object.

So mir leicht die Schulter is a very natural sequence:
dative pronoun → adverb → direct object.

Other options:

Beim Sport verletze ich mir die Schulter leicht.
Grammatically OK, but it sounds a bit more marked or “afterthought-like”. The first version is more neutral.

Placing leicht somewhere completely different like:

✗ Beim Sport leicht verletze ich mir die Schulter.

would sound odd or overly poetic in normal speech. The original word order is the most natural everyday choice.

Why is it wenn ich mich nicht aufwärme and not something like wenn ich nicht aufwärme mich?

Two rules work together here:

Subordinate clause word order with wenn
In a wenn-clause, the finite verb goes to the end:
- wenn – ich – mich – nicht – aufwärme
Separable verb with a prefix: sich aufwärmen
- Infinitive: sich aufwärmen
- In a main clause, prefix separates:
  - Ich wärme mich nicht auf.
- In a subordinate clause, the prefix attaches again and the whole verb form goes to the final position:
  - …, wenn ich mich nicht aufwärme.

You cannot put mich after aufwärme in a normal subordinate clause; in German the verb really stays at the end there, with its object(s) and adverbs before it.

Why is it mich in ich mich nicht aufwärme but mir in ich mir die Schulter verletze?

This is about case and about the verb:

sich aufwärmen takes its reflexive pronoun as a direct object (accusative):
- ich wärme mich auf
- du wärmst dich auf
- er wärmt sich auf
There is no other object, so the reflexive must be accusative → mich.
jemandem etwas verletzen (or sich etwas verletzen) has:
- a direct object (accusative) → die Schulter
- a dative person → mir

So:

ich verletze mir die Schulter
- mir = dative (affected person)
- die Schulter = accusative (body part)

Summary:

aufwärmen → reflexive is accusative (mich)
verletzen with a body part → dative person (mir) + accusative body part (die Schulter)

Why is wenn used here and not wann or falls?

wenn is used for:
- repeated conditions (whenever)
- general conditions (if in many cases)

Here wenn ich mich nicht aufwärme means roughly whenever / if I don’t warm up.

wann is only for questions about time:
- Wann kommst du? – When are you coming?
- Ich weiß nicht, wann er kommt. – … when he is coming.

So wann ich mich nicht aufwärme would be wrong here.

falls means in case and often sounds more hypothetical:
- Falls ich mich nicht aufwärme, verletze ich mir leicht die Schulter.

This is possible but suggests more of a speculative situation.
Wenn is the natural choice for a general, habitual statement like in the sentence.

Can you explain the overall word order in Beim Sport verletze ich mir leicht die Schulter …?

Yes, this is the standard main-clause V2 word order:

Beim Sport – a prepositional phrase used as a sentence beginning (Vorfeld). Anything can stand here: subject, time, place, etc.
verletze – the finite verb in position 2 (V2 rule).
ich – the subject, coming after the verb because something else is in first position.
mir – dative pronoun (affected person).
leicht – adverb (how easily?).
die Schulter – direct object (accusative).

So the structure is:
[Adverbial] – [Verb] – [Subject] – [Dative pronoun] – [Adverb] – [Accusative object]

German insists that the finite verb is in second position in main clauses. If the subject doesn’t stand first, it must come after the verb, as you see here.

What exactly does leicht mean here, and how is it different from einfach or schnell?

In this sentence, leicht means “easily / readily”:

Ich verletze mir leicht die Schulter.
= I easily injure my shoulder / I tend to injure my shoulder (quite) easily.

Differences:

leicht
- Focuses on little resistance / little effort needed.
- Typical in patterns like sich leicht verletzen, leicht brechen, leicht entzündlich.
einfach
- Means simple, not complicated.
- Es ist einfach, sich zu verletzen. – It is simple/easy (not complicated) to get hurt.
- In Ich verletze mir einfach die Schulter, einfach would sound more like just / simply (a different nuance).
schnell
- Means quickly/fast in terms of time.
- Ich verletze mir schnell die Schulter. – I injure my shoulder quickly (it doesn’t take long).

For the idea “I am prone to injuring my shoulder; it happens easily,” leicht is the most natural choice.