Breakdown of Meine Freundin ermutigt mich, weiter zu üben.
Questions & Answers about Meine Freundin ermutigt mich, weiter zu üben.
Freundin literally means “female friend”, but with a possessive like meine it is usually understood as girlfriend in modern German.
- Meine Freundin → typically “my girlfriend”.
- Eine Freundin von mir → more clearly “a (female) friend of mine”.
Context decides, but if you say meine Freundin about an adult in everyday conversation, most people will assume you mean your romantic partner.
Because Freundin is grammatically feminine, and the possessive mein- must agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case.
- Freundin → feminine, singular, nominative (subject of the sentence).
- Feminine nominative form of mein is meine.
Other forms for comparison:
- Mein Freund (masc., nom.) – my (boy)friend / boyfriend
- Meine Freunde (plural) – my friends
German pronouns change form depending on their case:
- ich = nominative (subject)
- mich = accusative (direct object)
- mir = dative (indirect object)
The verb ermutigen takes a direct object:
- jemanden ermutigen = to encourage someone
So mich is the correct accusative form:
- Meine Freundin ermutigt mich … = My girlfriend encourages me …
The base verb is ermutigen = to encourage.
- ermutigen (infinitive)
- sie ermutigt (3rd person singular present)
In the sentence, the subject is Meine Freundin (she), so the verb is conjugated:
- Meine Freundin ermutigt … = My girlfriend encourages …
Nuance: ermutigen is often about giving someone confidence or courage, sometimes more emotional than motivieren (“to motivate”, which can sound a bit more goal/task‑focused).
The part weiter zu üben is an infinitive clause (a “to + verb” phrase). In German, such clauses are usually separated with a comma when they depend on a verb like ermutigen:
- jemanden ermutigen, etwas zu tun
According to modern spelling rules, the comma in many zu + infinitive constructions is optional, but:
- In sentences like this, most writers do use the comma because it clearly separates the main clause (Meine Freundin ermutigt mich) from the infinitive clause (weiter zu üben).
- In exams or formal writing, it’s safer and clearer to include the comma.
weiter zu üben is a zu + infinitive construction:
- üben = to practice
- zu üben = to practice
- weiter = further / on / continue
Together, weiter zu üben means something like “to continue practicing” or “to keep practicing”.
So the whole pattern is:
- jemanden ermutigen, weiter zu üben
= “to encourage someone to keep practicing.”
In German zu goes directly before the infinitive verb, not before adverbs like weiter:
- Correct: weiter zu üben
- Wrong: zu weiter üben
Think of it as: weiter modifies the action “to practice”, while zu is glued to the verb üben:
- weiter (to) practice → weiter zu üben
Also, you will often see this written as one word: weiterzuüben. That treats weiterüben (“to continue practicing”) as a separable verb in its zu-infinitive form. Both spellings are understood; in many style guides, weiterzuüben (one word) is preferred.
You need zu in this kind of construction.
The German pattern is:
- jemanden ermutigen, etwas zu tun
→ encourage someone to do something
So:
- ermutigen, weiter zu üben ✔
- ermutigen, weiter üben ✘ (ungrammatical in standard German)
Without zu, üben would just hang there without a proper grammatical connection.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.
… ermutigt mich, zu üben
= encourages me to practice (no specific idea of continuing)… ermutigt mich, weiter zu üben
= encourages me to keep practicing / to continue practicing
weiter adds the idea that you were already practicing, and she wants you to go on.
German usually uses the simple present where English might use either simple present or present continuous:
- Meine Freundin ermutigt mich …
can mean:- “My girlfriend encourages me …”
- “My girlfriend is encouraging me …”
German does have a progressive form (ist am Ermutigen), but it is much less common and sounds more colloquial or regional. The normal, standard way is simply ermutigt.
Two points here:
Comma:
- Usually you write: … ermutigt mich, weiter zu üben.
- Leaving out the comma is sometimes permitted under current rules, but many teachers and style guides still expect the comma here. Keeping it is safest.
Word order inside the infinitive part:
- weiter zu üben (or weiterzuüben) is the natural order.
- Moving weiter away from üben (for example, mich weiter zu üben) would change the meaning; that would sound like “to practice myself further”, which is not what you want.
So you should keep:
- Meine Freundin ermutigt mich, weiter zu üben.
You can say:
- Meine Freundin motiviert mich, weiter zu üben.
Both are correct, but there is a nuance:
- ermutigen – to encourage, to give courage or emotional support; often used when someone doubts themselves or is afraid to continue.
- motivieren – to motivate, to give someone a reason/drive to do something; can sound a bit more goal‑ or performance‑oriented.
In many everyday contexts, they overlap and both sound natural.
The sentence itself is neutral in tone – you could use it in many contexts. What matters more is who you are talking about:
- Meine Freundin normally refers to your girlfriend, so by content it’s a personal / private topic.
Grammatically and stylistically, though, the wording is perfectly fine for both spoken and written German, including relatively formal contexts (e.g. “Eine Freundin von mir ermutigt mich, weiter zu üben” in a letter or email).