Breakdown of Ich lese die Informationen auf der Webseite.
Questions & Answers about Ich lese die Informationen auf der Webseite.
In German, Information is usually treated as a countable noun (one piece of information, two pieces of information), so the plural Informationen is very common:
- die Information = the (single) piece of information
- die Informationen = the pieces of information / the information (in general, but grammatically plural)
English usually treats information as an uncountable mass noun, so we don’t normally say informations in English. German does, and that’s why you see Informationen here.
Die Informationen is in the accusative case as the direct object of the verb lesen.
- Subject (nominative): Ich = I
- Verb: lese = read
- Direct object (accusative): die Informationen = the information
- Prepositional phrase: auf der Webseite = on the website
So the structure is: Ich (who is doing the reading?) lese die Informationen (what am I reading?) auf der Webseite (where?).
The article die can mean:
- nominative singular, feminine (e.g. die Frau = the woman)
- accusative singular, feminine
- nominative plural, all genders
- accusative plural, all genders
Here, the noun is Informationen with -en at the end, which is the plural form of Information. So we know it must be plural.
Because Informationen is not the subject (that’s ich), it can’t be nominative; it must be accusative plural as the direct object.
The base form of the noun is die Webseite (feminine).
The phrase auf der Webseite uses the dative case because of the preposition auf combined with a location (not movement).
For feminine nouns, the dative singular article is der:
- Nominative: die Webseite (subject)
- Accusative: die Webseite (direct object)
- Dative: der Webseite (indirect object / after certain prepositions)
Since auf here answers “Where?” (on the website), not “Where to?”, it triggers dative, so we get auf der Webseite.
The preposition auf can take either dative or accusative, depending on meaning:
- Dative for location (where?)
- Accusative for direction (where to?) / movement onto a surface
In this sentence, you’re describing a location (you are reading at/on a website), so you answer “Wo?” (where?) → dative:
- auf der Webseite = on the website (location)
If there were movement toward the website (for example, clicking onto it), you might see auf die Webseite:
- Ich gehe auf die Webseite. = I go to the website. (direction, “where to?” → accusative)
Yes, Ich lese die Informationen von der Webseite is grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly:
- auf der Webseite = on the website (focus on location – that’s where you are reading them)
- von der Webseite = from the website (focus on source – that’s where the information comes from)
Often, both would be understood similarly in context, but:
- If you want to emphasize where you are reading it (on that site), use auf der Webseite.
- If you want to emphasize that the information originates from that website, use von der Webseite.
Yes, German word order is relatively flexible, as long as you respect the main rule: in a main clause the conjugated verb is in second position.
All of these are correct, with slightly different emphasis:
Ich lese die Informationen auf der Webseite.
Neutral; slight focus on what you read.Ich lese auf der Webseite die Informationen.
Still neutral, but puts auf der Webseite earlier, so the place is a bit more prominent.Auf der Webseite lese ich die Informationen.
Stronger emphasis on on the website (e.g. contrasting with somewhere else). The first element is Auf der Webseite, the verb lese stays in second position, then the subject ich.
Meaning doesn’t fundamentally change; it’s more about what you highlight.
Lesen is an irregular verb; its stem vowel changes in the du and er/sie/es forms.
Present tense conjugation:
- ich lese = I read / I am reading
- du liest = you read (singular, informal)
- er/sie/es liest = he/she/it reads
- wir lesen = we read
- ihr lest = you all read (informal plural)
- sie lesen = they read
- Sie lesen = you read (formal)
For ich, the ending is -e and the stem does not change, so you get ich lese.
Ich lese can mean both:
- I read (habitual, general)
- I am reading (right now)
German does not have a separate continuous tense like English am reading, is reading. The simple present (Präsens) covers both meanings; context decides which is intended.
For example:
- Ich lese die Informationen auf der Webseite.
Could mean right now (while you speak) or a general habit, depending on context.
In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence.
- Informationen is a noun (what is being read) → capitalized.
- Webseite is a noun (a thing) → capitalized.
Verbs, adjectives, and most other parts of speech are not capitalized unless they start a sentence or are used as nouns in specific constructions.
Usage varies a bit, but roughly:
- die Webseite – a German-formed word; very common for web page or website in general.
- die Website – the English loanword; also very common and essentially interchangeable with Webseite in everyday use.
- die Homepage – originally meant the start page of a site, but many speakers use it loosely to mean website.
In your sentence, auf der Webseite and auf der Website would both sound natural.
Yes, that’s possible:
Ich lese die Informationen auf der Webseite.
→ Refers to specific information (probably known to both speaker and listener, e.g. “the information we talked about”).Ich lese Informationen auf der Webseite.
→ More general / non-specific: you read information on that website, but not some particular, previously identified set.
So the definite article (die) signals that you mean some known, specific pieces of information.