Learn Hardcore German: Am Wochenende treffe ich meine Freundin im Park. - At the weekend I meet my friend in the park.

Here, Am Wochenende (a time expression) is placed in the first position to emphasize when the action happens.
Because the first position is already taken, the subject ich moves after the verb:
Am Wochenende (1st position)
treffe (2nd position – conjugated verb)
ich meine Freundin im Park (rest of the sentence)

You could also say:

Ich treffe am Wochenende meine Freundin im Park.

Same meaning, different emphasis. Both are correct.

Why is it treffe ich and not ich treffe, like in English word order?

In German, the verb must always be the second element in a main clause.

When you begin the sentence with Ich, you get:

Ich treffe meine Freundin im Park.
(Subject first, verb second.)

When you begin with a time phrase like Am Wochenende, that phrase becomes the first element, so the verb must follow:

Am Wochenende treffe ich meine Freundin im Park.
(Time expression first, verb second, subject third.)

English keeps the subject first almost always; German allows you to move elements to the front, but the finite verb still stays in second position.

Why is it Am Wochenende and not Im Wochenende?

am is a contraction of an dem (“on the”).
With days and parts of days used as time expressions, German commonly uses an:
- am Montag – on Monday
- am Abend – in the evening
- am Wochenende – on the weekend / at the weekend

im is a contraction of in dem (“in the”) and is used for longer periods or enclosed time spans:

im Sommer – in summer
im Januar – in January
im Jahr 2025 – in the year 2025

So for a specific weekend as a point in time, German uses am Wochenende, not im Wochenende.

What case is Wochenende in, and why?

In Am Wochenende, we have:

am = an dem (preposition + article)
an with a time expression uses the dative case.

So:

das Wochenende (nominative singular)
dem Wochenende (dative singular) → contracted to am Wochenende

The noun Wochenende itself doesn’t change form in the dative; only the article changes (das → dem, then contracts to am).

Why is it meine Freundin and not meiner Freundin?

Because meine Freundin is the direct object of the verb treffe (“I meet whom?” → “my girlfriend”), so it’s in the accusative case.

For the possessive mein- with a feminine singular noun:

Nominative: meine Freundin (my girlfriend is nice.)
Accusative: meine Freundin (I meet my girlfriend.)
Dative: meiner Freundin (I give my girlfriend a present.)

In our sentence:

Ich treffe wen? – meine Freundin → accusative, which looks the same as the nominative for feminine: meine, not meiner.

Does meine Freundin mean “my girlfriend” or just “my (female) friend”?

In modern everyday German:

meine Freundin almost always means “my girlfriend” (romantic partner).
mein Freund usually means “my boyfriend”.

If you want to be clear that it’s just a friend and not a romantic partner, Germans often add something:

eine Freundin von mir – a (female) friend of mine
eine gute Freundin – a good (female) friend
mein Kumpel / mein Kollege – my buddy / colleague (context-dependent)

So in most contexts, Am Wochenende treffe ich meine Freundin im Park. will be understood as:

“At the weekend I’m meeting my girlfriend in the park.”

What case is im Park, and what does im stand for?

im is a contraction of in dem:

in (preposition “in”)
dem (dative masculine/neuter article)

Park is masculine:

Nominative: der Park
Dative: dem Park → im Park

The case is dative, because:

With location (where something happens), in + dative is used:
- im Park – in the park (location)
- in der Stadt – in the city

If you were expressing movement into the park, you would use accusative:

Ich gehe in den Park. – I’m going into the park. (movement towards)

Why is the present tense treffe used even though it’s talking about the future (this weekend)?

German very often uses the present tense to talk about the near or planned future, especially when there is a time expression:

Am Wochenende treffe ich meine Freundin im Park.
= I’m meeting / I will meet my girlfriend at the weekend.

Other examples:

Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin. – I’m going / I’ll go to Berlin tomorrow.
Nächste Woche besuchen wir meine Eltern. – Next week we’re visiting my parents.

You can use the future tense with werden, but it’s not necessary here:

Am Wochenende werde ich meine Freundin im Park treffen.

This sounds a bit more formal or slightly more distant. The simple present is more common for planned events.

Can I move the parts of the sentence around, and is the meaning the same?

Yes, German word order is flexible, as long as the conjugated verb stays in second position in a main clause. All of these are correct (with slightly different emphasis):

Am Wochenende treffe ich meine Freundin im Park.
(Time emphasized: when?)
Ich treffe am Wochenende meine Freundin im Park.
(Neutral; subject-first order.)
Ich treffe meine Freundin am Wochenende im Park.
(Emphasis slightly more on meine Freundin.)
Im Park treffe ich am Wochenende meine Freundin.
(Place im Park emphasized.)

The core meaning (“I meet my girlfriend in the park at the weekend”) stays the same; word order changes what is highlighted in the sentence.

Why is treffe spelled with ff and how is it pronounced?

treffe comes from the verb treffen (to meet).
The ff indicates a short vowel before it:
- treffe has a short “e” sound in the first syllable: roughly TREF-fe.
Pronunciation:
- tr-: like English “tr” in “try” (but often a little rolled or tapped r in German, depending on accent)
- e: short, like in English “bed”
- ff: like English “f”
- -e at the end: a weak, unstressed sound (schwa), similar to the “a” in “sofa”: -uh

So it’s roughly: TREF-uh.

What is the infinitive of treffe, and is the verb irregular?

The infinitive is treffen (“to meet”).

It is irregular because the vowel changes in some forms:

ich treffe – I meet
du triffst – you meet (informal singular)
er/sie/es trifft – he/she/it meets
wir treffen – we meet
ihr trefft – you (plural informal) meet
sie / Sie treffen – they / you (formal) meet

Note the vowel change: e → i in the du and er/sie/es forms (triffst, trifft), but not in ich treffe, wir treffen, etc.

What’s the difference between Ich treffe meine Freundin and Ich treffe mich mit meiner Freundin?

Both can be translated as “I’m meeting my girlfriend,” but there is a nuance:

Ich treffe meine Freundin.
- Focus on you meeting her.
- Grammatically: treffen + direct object.
- Neutral, very common.
Ich treffe mich mit meiner Freundin.
- Literally: “I meet myself with my girlfriend.”
- Reflexive: sich treffen mit + Dativ.
- Often emphasizes the mutual arrangement (“we are meeting each other / we arranged to meet”).

In everyday speech, for planned social meetings, sich treffen mit is very common:

Ich treffe mich am Wochenende mit meiner Freundin im Park.

Both versions are correct; context and style decide which one sounds more natural.

Why are Wochenende, Freundin, and Park capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence.

So:

das Wochenende – the weekend
die Freundin – the (female) friend / girlfriend
der Park – the park

They remain capitalized even in the middle of a sentence:

Am Wochenende treffe ich meine Freundin im Park.

This capitalization rule is one of the most consistent differences between German and English spelling.