Learn Hardcore German: Am Wochenende treffen sich Jugendliche im Park und hören Musik. - At the weekend, teenagers meet in the park and listen to music.

Am is a contraction of an dem.
With days and parts of the week, German normally uses an (→ am) to mean on:
- am Montag – on Monday
- am Wochenende – on the weekend

Im Wochenende would sound wrong in standard German. In is used with longer time periods or enclosed time spans (e.g. im Sommer, im Jahr 2024).

You could say an dem Wochenende, but that’s only used if you want to stress a very specific weekend (often in contrast to others). In everyday speech, am Wochenende is the normal, general form.

What case is Wochenende in, and why?

In Am Wochenende, Wochenende is in the dative singular.

an is a preposition that can take accusative or dative.
With time expressions like days / weekend, it takes the dative.
an + dem Wochenende → am Wochenende (dative).

So the base form is das Wochenende (nominative/accusative), and in the dative it’s dem Wochenende.

Why is the verb treffen in the form treffen and not trifft or treffe?

The subject is Jugendliche in the plural (young people, teenagers), so the verb must be 3rd person plural:

ich treffe
du triffst
er/sie/es trifft
wir treffen
ihr trefft
sie treffen

Here, Jugendliche = sie (they) → sie treffen.
That’s why we have treffen, not trifft or treffe.

What does sich treffen mean, and how is it different from treffen without sich?

treffen + direct object = to meet someone (one-way):
- Ich treffe meinen Freund. – I meet my friend.
sich treffen = to meet (each other), a reciprocal reflexive:
- Wir treffen uns im Park. – We meet (each other) in the park.
- Jugendliche treffen sich im Park. – Teenagers meet (each other) in the park.

In your sentence, treffen sich Jugendliche means that the young people mutually meet up with one another, not that they meet some third person.

Why is it treffen sich Jugendliche and not Jugendliche treffen sich here?

Both word orders are grammatically possible:

Jugendliche treffen sich am Wochenende im Park.
Am Wochenende treffen sich Jugendliche im Park.

What’s going on?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule.
If you move something to the front (here: Am Wochenende), the finite verb must still be in second position:
- Am Wochenende (1st element)
- treffen (2nd element – the verb)

Everything else comes after the verb. In this “middle field”, pronouns (like sich) usually come early, often even before a full noun subject. That’s why:

Am Wochenende treffen sich Jugendliche im Park …

feels very natural.
You can say:

Am Wochenende treffen Jugendliche sich im Park …

but it’s less common; pronouns tend to move forward in the sentence.

Why doesn’t Jugendliche have an article? Shouldn’t it be die Jugendlichen?

German can drop the article in the plural when talking about a group in a general / indefinite way:

Schüler lesen Bücher. – Pupils read books. (in general)
Jugendliche treffen sich im Park. – Young people meet in the park. (in general)

Compare:

Die Jugendlichen – the specific teenagers (that we have in mind)
Jugendliche – teenagers in general, some teenagers

So the sentence is making a general statement about teenagers, not about a particular known group.

Why is Jugendliche capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized.

Jugendliche is a noun, even though it looks like an adjective. It’s a so‑called substantiviertes Adjektiv (an adjective turned into a noun):

jung – young (adjective)
die Jugendlichen – the young people / teenagers (noun)

Because it functions as a noun, it’s written with a capital J.

What exactly is im Park, and why not just in dem Park?

im is a contraction of in dem.

in + dem Park → im Park

Grammar:

in can take accusative (direction) or dative (location).
Here it’s a location (where they are), so dative is used:
- Wo sind sie? – Im Park.
- in dem Park (dative) → contracted to im Park.

In dem Park would also be correct, just more formal/explicit. Im Park is the normal everyday form.

Why is it hören Musik and not Musik hören? Can I say … und Musik hören?

Both … und hören Musik and … und Musik hören are correct.

In main clauses, the conjugated verb still has to be in second position of its own clause/part:

… Jugendliche treffen sich im Park und hören Musik.
- After und, you start a new verb-second structure:
  - (implicit subject sie) – hören – Musik

If you say:

… und Musik hören,

you’re treating it as part of a verb phrase continuing from the first verb (like “meet and listen to music” as a combined idea). Native speakers use both orders; … und hören Musik slightly stresses the activity “hear/listen” more as a full clause.

Why is there no comma before und hören Musik?

German often omits the comma when two verbs with the same subject are simply joined by und in one main clause:

Jugendliche treffen sich im Park und hören Musik.

Here we have one subject (Jugendliche) and two main verbs (treffen, hören) in a single coordinated clause. No comma is required.

You would use a comma if you had two independent main clauses with their own explicit subjects, especially if they are longer or more separate in meaning:

Die Jugendlichen treffen sich im Park, und die Anwohner beschweren sich.

The sentence is in the present tense. Does it mean they are doing this right now or regularly?

In German, the present tense (Präsens) is used both for:

Right now:
- Sie hören Musik. – They are listening to music (right now).
Regular / habitual actions:
- Am Wochenende treffen sich Jugendliche im Park und hören Musik. – On weekends, young people (regularly) meet in the park and listen to music.

Here, because of Am Wochenende (on the weekend) and the general subject Jugendliche, the natural reading is a habitual action: this is something that generally happens on weekends.

If you wanted to emphasize the future, you could say:

Am Wochenende werden sich Jugendliche im Park treffen und Musik hören. – On the weekend, young people will meet in the park and listen to music.