Learn Hardcore German: Meine Freundin wünscht sich mehr Entspannung in ihrem Umfeld und freut sich darauf, bald weniger zu arbeiten. - My friend wants more relaxation in her surroundings and is looking forward to working less soon.

The possessive mein- has to agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun it belongs to.
Freundin is:
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (it’s the subject of the sentence).

So you need the feminine nominative form meine:

Meine Freundin = my (female) friend / my girlfriend
Mein Freund = my (male) friend / my boyfriend

Does Freundin mean “girlfriend” or “female friend”?

It can mean either, depending on context.

Freundin by itself literally means “female friend.”
In real-life usage, meine Freundin very often means “my girlfriend,” especially if:
- you’re talking about a romantic relationship,
- or it’s clearly about your partner.

To emphasize “just a friend,” Germans often say:

eine Freundin von mir = a (female) friend of mine
meine gute Freundin can still be ambiguous, but often sounds more like “close (female) friend,” not necessarily romantic.

So context usually tells you which meaning is intended.

Why do we say wünscht sich and not just wünscht?

The verb sich etwas wünschen is a common reflexive structure in German meaning “to wish for something / to want something (for oneself).”

wünschen (without reflexive) is more formal or used in special contexts:
- Ich wünsche dir alles Gute. = I wish you all the best.
sich etwas wünschen (with reflexive sich) is used for “to wish for / to desire”:
- Meine Freundin wünscht sich mehr Entspannung.
  = My girlfriend wishes for more relaxation / would like more relaxation.

Grammatically:

sich is a reflexive pronoun in the dative: sich etwas wünschen = “to wish something for oneself.”
You could say Meine Freundin wünscht mehr Entspannung, but wünscht sich is more idiomatic and natural in everyday speech for personal desires.

What case is mehr Entspannung in, and why is there no article?

Mehr Entspannung is in the accusative case as the direct object of wünscht sich.

Verb: wünscht sich
Direct object: mehr Entspannung (“more relaxation”)

There is no article because:

Entspannung is an abstract, uncountable noun here (like “water,” “time,” “fun”).
With uncountable, abstract nouns modified by words like mehr, weniger, viel, you often drop the article:
- mehr Ruhe – more quiet
- weniger Stress – less stress
- viel Geduld – a lot of patience

So mehr Entspannung works like “more relaxation” in English, without a or the.

What exactly does Entspannung mean, and is it related to entspannen?

Yes, Entspannung is the noun formed from the verb (sich) entspannen.

(sich) entspannen = to relax
die Entspannung = relaxation

Meaning-wise, Entspannung can refer to:

the state of being relaxed,
the process of relaxing,
or more generally, a less stressful, calmer situation.

In the sentence, mehr Entspannung in ihrem Umfeld means something like “a calmer, less stressful atmosphere in her environment.”

What does in ihrem Umfeld mean literally, and what case is ihrem?

Literally:

in = in
ihrem = her (dative, singular)
Umfeld = environment, surroundings, (social) context

So in ihrem Umfeld = “in her environment / in her surroundings.”

Grammatically:

The preposition in can take either dative (location) or accusative (movement).
Here it describes a static situation (“where?”), so it’s dative.
Umfeld is neuter: das Umfeld.
Neuter, singular, dative with ihr- gives ihrem.

Hence: in ihrem Umfeld.

What is the nuance of Umfeld here? Could we also say Umgebung?

Both are possible but have slightly different nuances:

Umfeld:
- often means one’s social or professional environment: people around you, workplace culture, general circumstances.
- fits well when talking about stress level, atmosphere, social context.
Umgebung:
- more about physical surroundings or area: neighborhood, landscape, things around you in space.
- e.g. die ruhige Umgebung = the quiet surroundings.

In this sentence, in ihrem Umfeld suggests:

she wants a calmer, less stressful general environment – probably including her workplace, daily life, and the people around her – not just a quieter physical space.

In ihrer Umgebung would be understood, but it leans more toward physical surroundings.

Why is it freut sich darauf and not something like freut sich auf das?

German uses two patterns:

sich freuen auf + Akkusativ-Nomen
- Sie freut sich auf den Urlaub.
  = She is looking forward to the vacation.
sich freuen darauf, … zu …
- clause
- Sie freut sich darauf, bald weniger zu arbeiten.
  = She is looking forward to working less soon.

Here, what she is looking forward to is not a simple noun, but an action: bald weniger zu arbeiten.
In that case, German uses the “pronominal adverb” darauf:

darauf refers forward to the following zu-clause.
Equivalent to “on that / about that” → “about doing that.”

So:

freut sich auf das is used before a normal noun.
freut sich darauf, … zu … is used before an infinitive clause.

What’s the difference between sich freuen auf and sich freuen über?

Both mean “to be happy” or “to look forward to,” but with different time reference:

sich freuen auf + Akkusativ
→ happiness about something in the future (“to look forward to”)
- Ich freue mich auf das Wochenende.
  I’m looking forward to the weekend.
- Sie freut sich darauf, bald weniger zu arbeiten.
  She is looking forward to working less soon.
sich freuen über + Akkusativ
→ happiness about something present or past (“to be happy about”)
- Ich freue mich über das Geschenk.
  I’m happy about the gift.
- Er freut sich über die gute Nachricht.
  He is happy about the good news.

In the given sentence, the working-less is in the future, so freut sich darauf fits the “looking forward to” meaning.

Why is there a comma before bald weniger zu arbeiten?

bald weniger zu arbeiten is an infinitive clause with zu.
It depends on darauf (and indirectly on freut sich):

Sie freut sich darauf, bald weniger zu arbeiten.

In German, infinitive clauses with zu can be separated by a comma, and in standard written German it is usually used:

…, um mehr Zeit zu haben.
…, ohne viel zu sagen.
…, statt so viel zu arbeiten.

So the comma marks the start of the zu-infinitive clause that explains what darauf refers to.

Why is zu arbeiten at the end, and how does zu work here?

In German, in infinitive clauses the verb normally goes to the end, and zu comes directly before the infinitive:

zu arbeiten = to work
zu schlafen = to sleep
zu lernen = to learn

The whole phrase bald weniger zu arbeiten is an infinitive group:

bald (soon) – adverb of time
weniger (less) – modifies the verb arbeiten
zu arbeiten (to work) – infinitive verb at the end

So it’s literally: “(herself) is happy about it, soon less to work.”
German word order requires arbeiten at the end of that clause, with zu glued to it.

What is bald modifying here, and could we move it?

bald means “soon” and modifies the time of the action weniger zu arbeiten:

bald weniger zu arbeiten = to work less soon / to soon be working less.

You could move bald a bit, but you’d usually keep it inside the infinitive group:

Sie freut sich darauf, bald weniger zu arbeiten. (most natural)
Sie freut sich darauf, weniger bald zu arbeiten. (sounds wrong; “weniger bald” doesn’t make sense)
Sie freut sich bald darauf, weniger zu arbeiten. (changes the meaning: She will soon be happy about it, not “she is happy about soon working less.”)

So the original placement is the clearest: bald belongs to the time when she will be working less.

What exactly does weniger refer to in bald weniger zu arbeiten?

Here weniger is an adverb modifying the verb arbeiten:

arbeiten = to work
weniger arbeiten = to work less

So bald weniger zu arbeiten = “to work less soon.”

It does not mean “fewer jobs” or “fewer tasks” (that would use the adjective with a noun: weniger Arbeit, weniger Aufgaben).
Instead, it means a reduced amount of working time or workload in general.