Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.

I write a message to my family every week.

Breakdown of Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.

• ich: I
• mein: my
• schreiben: to write
• die Woche: the week
• die Familie: the family
• die Nachricht: the message
• an: to
• jede: every; (feminine, accusative)

Questions & Answers about Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.

Why is it jede Woche and not jeden Woche or jeder Woche?

Woche is grammatically feminine in German (die Woche).

The word jede is the feminine form of jeder (“every/each”), and it has to agree with Woche in gender, number, and case.

• Gender: feminine → jede
• Number: singular → jede
• Case: here it’s an adverbial accusative of time (“every week”) → for feminine singular, nominative and accusative look the same: jede

Compare:

• jeden Tag – Tag is masculine → accusative masculine: jeden
• jedes Jahr – Jahr is neuter → accusative neuter: jedes
• jede Woche – Woche is feminine → accusative feminine: jede

You might see jeder Woche in something like in jeder Woche (“in every week”) – that would be dative, because in can take the dative.
But in the sentence Ich schreibe jede Woche …, the time expression stands alone and is in the accusative, so it must be jede Woche.

What case is jede Woche, and why?

jede Woche is in the accusative case.

In German, expressions of time when / how often are often put in the accusative without a preposition. This is sometimes called the “accusative of time”:

• jeden Tag – every day
• nächste Woche – next week
• dieses Jahr – this year

So in Ich schreibe jede Woche …, jede Woche answers the question “How often?” → every week, and it appears in the accusative case.

Because Woche is feminine, the accusative singular of jede is jede (same as the nominative feminine singular).

Why is it eine Nachricht and not ein Nachricht?

Because Nachricht is grammatically feminine in German: die Nachricht.

The indefinite article “a / an” has to agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case:

• Masculine: ein (ein Mann)
• Neuter: ein (ein Kind)
• Feminine: eine (eine Frau, eine Nachricht)

So:

• die Nachricht → eine Nachricht (feminine)
  Not: ein Nachricht (that would be wrong).

What case is eine Nachricht in here, and why?

eine Nachricht is in the accusative case.

In the sentence Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie:

• Ich = subject → nominative
• schreibe = verb
• eine Nachricht = direct object → accusative
• an meine Familie = prepositional object (with an)

“Writing something” works like this:

• jemand schreibt etwas (Akk.) an jemanden (Akk. with an)
  “someone writes something to someone”

So eine Nachricht is the thing being written → direct object → accusative.

Why is it an meine Familie and not zu meiner Familie or meiner Familie?

The choice of preposition here is mainly driven by the verb schreiben and a common idiomatic pattern.

There are three main options:

1. schreiben an + Akkusativ

   • Ich schreibe eine Nachricht an meine Familie.
     This is very common when talking about letters, emails, messages – literally “write a message to my family”.
     The person is the goal / addressee, and with an that takes the accusative.

2. schreiben + Dativ (without a preposition)

   • Ich schreibe meiner Familie eine Nachricht.
     Here meiner Familie is a dative indirect object (“I write my family a message”).
     This is also very natural and common.

3. schreiben zu is generally not used in the sense of “write to (a person)” in standard German.
   zu is used in other meanings (e.g. zu etwas schreiben = “write about something / write (a comment) on something”), but not for the addressee.

So:

• an meine Familie → perfectly standard: “to my family”
• meiner Familie (dative, no preposition) → also correct, slightly different structure
• zu meiner Familie → wrong for “write to my family”

Why is it meine Familie and not meiner Familie after an?

Because an here is used with the accusative case.

The pattern is: an + Akkusativ, when there is a sense of direction / target / addressee:

• Ich schreibe an meine Familie.
• Ich schicke einen Brief an meinen Freund.
• Ich sende eine E-Mail an meine Lehrerin.

Familie is feminine:

• Nominative: meine Familie
• Accusative: meine Familie
• Dative: meiner Familie
• Genitive: meiner Familie

For feminine nouns, nominative and accusative look the same.
Since an here takes the accusative, we use meine Familie, which happens to look like the nominative. meiner Familie would be dative, which does not match an in this meaning.

Can I also say Ich schreibe meiner Familie jede Woche eine Nachricht? Is there a difference?

Yes, that sentence is completely correct and very natural:

• Ich schreibe meiner Familie jede Woche eine Nachricht.

Here the structure is:

• Ich – nominative subject
• schreibe – verb
• meiner Familie – dative (indirect object → to whom)
• eine Nachricht – accusative (direct object → what)

Meaning-wise it is almost the same as:

• Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.

Very subtle nuances:

• an meine Familie slightly emphasizes the addressee as a target (like addressing or directing something to them).
• meiner Familie presents the family more clearly as the indirect object / beneficiary.

In everyday use, both are fine and will usually be understood the same way.

Why is the verb schreibe and not schreiben or schreibt?

The verb schreiben (to write) is being conjugated for the subject ich (I).

Present tense forms:

• ich schreibe
• du schreibst
• er / sie / es schreibt
• wir schreiben
• ihr schreibt
• sie / Sie schreiben

Because the subject is ich, we must use the 1st person singular: schreibe.

• Ich schreibe … = I write / I am writing …
  Not:
• Ich schreiben … (wrong)
• Ich schreibt … (wrong)

Can I change the word order? For example: Jede Woche schreibe ich eine Nachricht an meine Familie?

Yes, that is correct and very natural:

• Jede Woche schreibe ich eine Nachricht an meine Familie.

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

• Exactly one element comes first (here: Jede Woche),
• then the conjugated verb (here: schreibe),
• then the rest (subject, objects, etc.).

Possible variants:

• Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.
• Jede Woche schreibe ich eine Nachricht an meine Familie.

Both mean the same. Putting Jede Woche first just emphasizes the frequency/time a bit more.

Is Ich schreibe eine Nachricht an meine Familie jede Woche also correct?

It is grammatically possible, but it sounds less natural than:

• Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.
• Jede Woche schreibe ich eine Nachricht an meine Familie.

In German, time expressions like jede Woche usually appear:

• near the beginning of the “middle field” (after the verb), or
• at the very beginning of the sentence.

Putting jede Woche at the very end is not the typical, neutral word order. It might be used in speech for special emphasis, but for learners it’s better to stick to:

• Ich schreibe jede Woche …
  or
• Jede Woche schreibe ich …

Is Familie treated as singular or plural in German?

Grammatically, Familie is singular feminine: die Familie.

So:

• meine Familie ist groß – my family is big
  (German: singular verb, English: usually also singular “is”, though some dialects say “are”)

For the plural “families” you use:

• die Familien (plural)
  e.g. Viele Familien wohnen in diesem Haus.

In the sentence Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie, Familie is singular (one family group), even though it refers to multiple people.

Does eine Nachricht mean “a message” or “one message”? Is there any difference?

eine can mean both:

1. indefinite article: “a message” (non-specific)
2. number: “one message” (emphasizing the quantity)

In your sentence, the default understanding is just “a message”:

• Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.
  → “I write a message to my family every week.”

If you strongly stress eine, it can also imply exactly one:

• Ich schreibe ihnen nur eine Nachricht pro Woche.
  “I write them only one message per week.”

But structurally, it’s the same word; the difference is context and emphasis.

Is there any difference between Nachricht, Brief, and E-Mail?

Yes, they are related but not identical:

• die Nachricht
  General message (can be an SMS, WhatsApp, email, voicemail, etc.). Very broad.

• der Brief
  A letter on paper, sent by post.

• die E-Mail
  Specifically an email.

So:

• Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.
  → vague: could be SMS, WhatsApp, email, etc.

• Ich schreibe jede Woche einen Brief an meine Familie.
  → specifically a letter.

• Ich schreibe jede Woche eine E-Mail an meine Familie.
  → specifically an email.

All three are grammatically fine; the choice depends on what kind of message you mean.

Does jede Woche mean literally every single week without exception?

In everyday speech, jede Woche usually means:

• regularly / once a week in general, not necessarily mathematically every single week of your life.

So:

• Ich schreibe jede Woche eine Nachricht an meine Familie.
  → “I (normally / usually) write a message to my family every week.”

If you wanted to stress absolute strictness, you could add adverbs like:

• wirklich jede Woche – really every week
• ausnahmslos jede Woche – without exception every week

But in normal use, jede Woche already implies a steady weekly habit.