Learn Hardcore German: Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns jede Woche ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe. - Our German lecturer gives us a short presentation as homework every week.

Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns jede Woche ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe.

Our German lecturer gives us a short presentation as homework every week.

Breakdown of Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns jede Woche ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe.

a; (neuter, accusative)

jede

every; (feminine, accusative)

die Dozentin

the lecturer (female)

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Questions & Answers about Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns jede Woche ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe.

Why is it Unsere Dozentin and not Unser Dozentin?

Unser is a possessive determiner (our) and it has to agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies.

Dozentin is:
- singular
- feminine
- in the nominative case (it’s the subject of the sentence)

For a feminine noun in the nominative singular, unser takes an -e:

unsere Dozentin – our (female) lecturer
Compare:
unser Dozent – our (male) lecturer (masculine nominative)
unser Kind – our child (neuter nominative)
unsere Kinder – our children (plural nominative)

So Unsere Dozentin is the correct form because Dozentin is feminine nominative singular.

What exactly is a Dozentin? Is it the same as Lehrerin?

Both words describe someone who teaches, but they’re used in different contexts:

Dozentin (feminine; masculine: Dozent)
- typically used for lecturers at universities, colleges, and adult education (e.g. at a Volkshochschule)
- can also be used for people who give courses or lectures in more specialized or professional contexts
Lehrerin (feminine; masculine: Lehrer)
- primarily a school teacher (elementary, middle, high school)
- in everyday speech, people rarely call a university instructor Lehrer/Lehrerin

So unsere Dozentin in Deutsch suggests this is probably a university or adult-education situation, not a regular school teacher.

In the phrase unsere Dozentin in Deutsch, what does in Deutsch mean exactly?

Here in Deutsch means “in the subject of German” or “for German class”, not “in German (language)”.

It describes what she teaches, so the whole phrase unsere Dozentin in Deutsch means:

our lecturer in German (as a subject)

It does not mean:

that she is speaking in German while giving homework (that would use auf Deutsch or auf Deutsch sprechen)
and it does not attach to the verb gibt, but to Dozentin: she is the German lecturer.

Why is Deutsch capitalized here? Is it a noun or an adjective?

In this sentence Deutsch is treated as a noun, the name of the school subject:

Deutsch = (the subject) German

Names of languages and school subjects used as nouns are capitalized in German:

Ich lerne Deutsch. – I’m learning German.
Der Unterricht in Deutsch beginnt um 8 Uhr. – The class in German starts at 8.

As an adjective, deutsch would be written with a lowercase d:

deutsche Musik – German music
deutsche Literatur – German literature

So in Deutsch is short for something like im Fach Deutsch (in the subject German), hence the capital letter.

What case is uns, and why do we use uns instead of wir?

uns is the dative plural form of the pronoun wir (we).

The verb geben (to give) typically takes:

a dative object = the indirect object (the receiver)
an accusative object = the direct object (the thing given)

Pattern:

jemandem (dative) etwas (accusative) geben
- give someone something

In the sentence:

uns = the people who receive the homework → dative plural
ein kurzes Referat = the thing that is given → accusative singular

So we say:

Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns ein kurzes Referat.
- She gives us a short presentation/report.

wir is nominative (subject form), and here wir are not the subject; unsere Dozentin is the subject. That’s why uns, not wir.

What case is ein kurzes Referat, and how are its endings formed?

ein kurzes Referat is in the accusative case as the direct object of gibt:

Who gives? → unsere Dozentin (subject, nominative)
Gives what? → ein kurzes Referat (direct object, accusative)

Referat is a neuter noun:

nominative: das Referat
accusative: das Referat (same form)

With an indefinite article and an adjective, the forms are:

nominative neuter: ein kurzes Referat
accusative neuter: ein kurzes Referat

Why kurz → kurzes?
Because after ein with a neuter noun, the adjective takes the ending -es in both nominative and accusative:

das kurze Referat
ein kurzes Referat
kein kurzes Referat

So the phrase ein kurzes Referat is accusative neuter, with the standard adjective ending -es.

Why do we say jede Woche and not jeden Woche or jeder Woche?

The noun Woche is:

feminine
singular

Here jede Woche is an adverbial of time: “every week”.

Two points:

Gender agreement
The basic forms of jede with a singular noun are:
- feminine nominative/accusative: jede Woche
- masculine accusative: jeden Tag
- masculine nominative: jeder Tag (though you usually say jeder Tag less often; in practice people say jeden Tag because it’s usually an object/time adverbial)
Since Woche is feminine, we need jede, not jeden.
Case
Time expressions like jede Woche (meaning “how often? how regularly?”) are usually in the accusative case without a preposition. For feminine nouns, nominative and accusative are both jede.

So jede Woche is correct; jeden Woche and jeder Woche are wrong in this context.

Is jede Woche accusative or dative, and how do time expressions like this usually work?

jede Woche is accusative.

For time expressions without a preposition, German usually uses:

accusative for:
- duration:
  - den ganzen Tag – (for) the whole day
  - die ganze Woche – the whole week
- frequency / repeated time:
  - jeden Tag – every day
  - jede Woche – every week

The dative with time almost always appears with a preposition:

am Tag (an + dem Tag) – during the day / on the day
in der Woche – during the week
im Juli (in + dem Juli) – in July

So in jede Woche (“every week”), there is no preposition, it functions as a standard accusative time adverbial of frequency.

What does Referat mean here? Is it a written report or an oral presentation?

In academic and school contexts, ein Referat most often means an oral presentation on a given topic, usually prepared in advance and then delivered in class.

Depending on the teacher and context, ein Referat can involve:

an oral talk (main meaning)
possibly written notes or a short written handout to support the talk
sometimes a written report plus a short presentation

But the core idea is: a short, prepared presentation about a topic, not just a general “essay” (that would more typically be Aufsatz).

So in ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe, the lecturer assigns a short presentation as homework.

Why is it als Hausaufgabe and not als Hausaufgaben?

The preposition als here means “as” (in the function/role of):

ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe
→ a short presentation as a homework assignment

Key points:

als + singular noun often describes a role or function:
- als Lehrer arbeiten – to work as a teacher
- etwas als Geschenk geben – to give something as a present
Hausaufgabe vs Hausaufgaben
- die Hausaufgabe – one specific homework task / assignment
- die Hausaufgaben (plural) – homework in general, possibly many tasks

In this sentence, the Referat is one assignment, so singular als Hausaufgabe is natural: she gives this one thing in the role of a homework task.

If you said als Hausaufgaben, it would sound like multiple separate pieces of homework, which doesn’t fit well with ein kurzes Referat.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Jede Woche gibt uns unsere Dozentin in Deutsch ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe?

Yes, German word order is quite flexible as long as you respect a few rules:

Main clause: verb in 2nd position
The finite verb (gibt) must be in second position:
- Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns …
- Jede Woche gibt uns unsere Dozentin in Deutsch …
- Ein kurzes Referat gibt uns unsere Dozentin in Deutsch jede Woche als Hausaufgabe.
Pronoun objects normally come early
Personal pronouns like uns usually come before full noun phrases:
- gibt uns ein kurzes Referat (normal)
- gibt ein kurzes Referat uns (possible, but marked / unusual)
Adverbials can move
Phrases like jede Woche and als Hausaufgabe can move around quite a bit:
- Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns jede Woche ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe.
- Jede Woche gibt uns unsere Dozentin in Deutsch ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe.
- Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns ein kurzes Referat jede Woche als Hausaufgabe. (understandable, but less natural)

Your suggested sentence:

Jede Woche gibt uns unsere Dozentin in Deutsch ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe.

is grammatically correct and sounds natural. It puts the emphasis first on the frequency (“Every week…”).

Could we also use the verb aufgeben here, like gibt uns … auf?

Yes. aufgeben is a separable verb that means “to assign” (homework, tasks):

jemandem etwas aufgeben – to assign someone something

With homework, it’s very common:

Der Lehrer gibt uns Hausaufgaben auf. – The teacher assigns us homework.

You can rephrase the sentence with aufgeben:

Unsere Dozentin in Deutsch gibt uns jede Woche ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe auf.

Here:

gibt … auf is the full verb aufgeben split into gibt (2nd position) and auf (at the end).
The meaning is very close to gibt uns … als Hausaufgabe; aufgeben makes the idea of “assigning” a bit more explicit.

Both versions are idiomatic:

… gibt uns ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe.
… gibt uns ein kurzes Referat als Hausaufgabe auf.

The first uses the general verb geben, the second the more specific aufgeben for assignments.