Learn Hardcore German: Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen, weil die Aussicht dort schön ist. - The young ones want to climb the hill early because the view there is beautiful.

In the sentence, Die Jungen is plural nominative (the boys), so you need Jungen, not Junge.
Die Junge would be wrong in standard German for “the girl” or “the young woman” as well; that’s das Mädchen / die junge Frau etc.

What is the difference between Jungen and Jungs?

Both can mean boys, but they differ in style and nuance:

Jungen: more neutral and slightly more formal; fits in written German, school books, news, etc.
- Example: Die Jungen spielen Fußball.
Jungs: more colloquial / informal; what people say in everyday speech, often like “guys” or “lads”.
- Example: Die Jungs spielen Fußball.

In this sentence, Die Jungen is a neutral, standard choice. You could also say Die Jungs wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen, especially in spoken, casual German.

Why is it auf den Hügel and not auf dem Hügel?

The preposition auf can take either accusative or dative:

Accusative = movement towards a place (change of location)
Dative = location (being at / on a place)

In the sentence, the boys want to climb up onto the hill → movement to a new position, so we use accusative:

auf den Hügel (onto the hill) – accusative
auf dem Hügel (on the hill) – dative (already on it)

Compare:

Wir steigen auf den Hügel. – We are going up onto the hill.
Wir sitzen auf dem Hügel. – We are sitting on the hill.

How do we know that den Hügel is accusative, and what is the gender of Hügel?

Hügel (hill) is masculine in German:

Nominative singular: der Hügel
Accusative singular: den Hügel
Dative singular: dem Hügel
Genitive singular: des Hügels

In auf den Hügel, den is the masculine accusative article, which tells you Hügel is in the accusative case (because of the movement “onto” something with auf).

So the underlying pattern is:

der Hügel – subject
den Hügel – object or direction towards

Could we say auf dem Hügel steigen here, or would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say auf dem Hügel steigen, but it changes the meaning:

auf den Hügel steigen = to climb up onto the hill (they are at the bottom and go up)
auf dem Hügel steigen = to climb on the hill (they are already on the hill and climb there, e.g. climbing a tower that stands on the hill)

In this context, because they want to go up to get a good view, auf den Hügel steigen (onto the hill) is the natural choice.

Why is it früh auf den Hügel steigen and not auf den Hügel früh steigen?

In German main clauses, adverbs often follow a general order: time – manner – place (rough rule of thumb).

In this phrase:

früh = time (early)
auf den Hügel = direction/place (onto the hill)
steigen = verb

So früh comes earlier in the sentence:

Natural: Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen.

Auf den Hügel früh steigen is not ungrammatical, but it sounds marked and unusual; you’d only use such an order for special emphasis and even then, many native speakers would still prefer the usual word order.

So the standard, neutral version is with früh before auf den Hügel.

What exactly does früh mean here, and could we use bald instead?

früh means early (in the day / at an early time). In this sentence it suggests:

early in the morning
or simply “not late”, “relatively early”

bald means soon, not “early in the morning”. So:

Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen.
→ They want to climb the hill early (probably early in the morning).
Die Jungen wollen bald auf den Hügel steigen.
→ They want to climb the hill soon (at some point in the near future).

Both are grammatically correct, but they express different ideas.

Why is it wollen and not möchten or werden?

wollen = to want (something), strong intention, desire or plan.
- Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen.
  → The boys want to climb the hill early.
möchten = would like to (more polite / softer wish; subjunctive of mögen).
- Die Jungen möchten früh auf den Hügel steigen.
  → The boys would like to climb the hill early (sounds a bit more tentative or polite).
werden (+ infinitive) = future tense, often used to express a prediction or planned future action, but in everyday German present tense with time expression is very common instead.
- Die Jungen werden früh auf den Hügel steigen.
  → The boys will climb the hill early. (statement about the future)

Here, wollen is used because the sentence expresses the boys’ intention rather than just a future fact or a polite wish.

How does the verb wollen work with another verb like steigen?

wollen is a modal verb. In German, modal verbs are conjugated, and the main verb appears as an infinitive at the end of the clause.

Structure:

Subject + conjugated modal verb + … + infinitive

In our sentence:

Die Jungen – subject
wollen – conjugated modal verb (3rd person plural)
früh auf den Hügel – other elements
steigen – infinitive main verb at the end

So: Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen.

If you change the subject, wollen changes, but steigen stays in the infinitive:

Ich will früh auf den Hügel steigen.
Er will früh auf den Hügel steigen.
Wir wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen.

Why does the word order change after weil? Why is it weil die Aussicht dort schön ist and not … dort ist schön?

Weil is a subordinating conjunction. It introduces a subordinate clause and sends the finite verb to the end of that clause.

Main clause word order: verb in 2nd position

Die Aussicht ist dort schön.
Subject – verb – other elements

Subordinate clause with weil: verb at the end

weil die Aussicht dort schön ist
Conjunction – subject – other elements – verb

So in the full sentence:

Main clause: Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen,
Subordinate clause: weil die Aussicht dort schön ist.

Putting ist at the end is the regular pattern for clauses with weil (and other subordinating conjunctions like dass, ob, wenn, etc.).

Could we say weil dort die Aussicht schön ist? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

weil dort die Aussicht schön ist

This is also correct. The difference is mainly about emphasis / focus:

weil die Aussicht dort schön ist
→ neutral word order; you’re talking about the view there being nice.
weil dort die Aussicht schön ist
→ slight emphasis on dort (“there”), e.g. contrasting with another place where the view is not nice.

In many contexts they are practically interchangeable; both versions are grammatical.

Why is it schön and not schöne in die Aussicht dort schön ist?

Here, schön is used predicatively, after the verb sein (ist):

Die Aussicht ist schön.

In predicative position (after sein, werden, bleiben, etc.), adjectives do not take endings:

Das Wetter ist schön.
Die Blumen sind bunt.
Der Film war langweilig.

Adjective endings (like schöne, schöner, schönen) appear when the adjective is before a noun (attributive position):

die schöne Aussicht – the beautiful view
eine schöne Aussicht
mit einer schönen Aussicht

So:

Die Aussicht dort ist schön. (predicative, no ending)
Die schöne Aussicht dort gefällt mir. (attributive, with ending)

What does Aussicht mean exactly? Is it always “view”?

Aussicht can mean:

view / panorama / scenery – what you can see from a place
- Die Aussicht dort ist schön.
  → The view there is beautiful.
chance / prospect / outlook (more abstract)
- Die Aussicht auf Erfolg ist gut.
  → The prospects of success are good.

In this sentence, because we are talking about going up a hill, Aussicht clearly means view (the visual scene you see from the hill).

What is the difference between dort and da here? Could we say weil die Aussicht da schön ist?

Yes, you could say:

… weil die Aussicht da schön ist.

Both dort and da can mean there, but:

dort is a bit more specific / pointed and slightly more formal. It often refers to a concrete, previously mentioned or pointed‑to place (“over there”).
da is very common in spoken German, broader in meaning (can mean “there”, “here”, “then”, “at that time”, etc.), and slightly more colloquial.

In this sentence:

dort fits very well: “on the hill (there) the view is beautiful”.
da would sound a bit more conversational, but still correct.

Do we really need dort? Could we just say weil die Aussicht schön ist?

Grammatically, yes:

Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel steigen, weil die Aussicht schön ist.

This is correct. However, dort adds clarity: it makes explicit that the view from that place (the hill) is beautiful.

Without dort, the meaning is still understandable from context, but slightly less explicit. With dort, the connection to the hill is very clear: it is the view there that motivates them to climb the hill.

Why is it steigen and not a verb like klettern or gehen?

steigen has the idea of going upward / climbing, often in a somewhat steady or continuous way:

auf den Berg / Hügel steigen – to climb up the mountain / hill
in den Zug steigen – to get on the train
Die Temperatur steigt. – The temperature is rising.

Alternatives and nuances:

klettern = to climb, often with hands and feet, more physical or sporty (climbing a tree, rock climbing).
- Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel klettern.
  → Sounds as if it’s steeper or more like actual climbing.
gehen or hinaufgehen = to go (up), walk (up).
- Die Jungen wollen früh auf den Hügel gehen / hinaufgehen.
  → Emphasizes walking up rather than “climbing”.

In the original sentence, steigen is a natural, quite general verb for going up a hill.