Learn Hardcore German: Ich gehe dreimal in der Woche in den Park.

„Woche“ is feminine: die Woche (nom.), der Woche (dat.).
With time expressions, in usually takes the dative:
- in der Woche = in the week / per week → dative singular
„in die Woche“ would be accusative and is not how Germans talk about frequency.
„in der Wochen“ is grammatically wrong: Wochen is plural, and then you would need in den Wochen (dative plural), which would also change the meaning to in the weeks (a different idea).

Why is it „in den Park“ and not „in dem Park“ or „im Park“?

The preposition „in“ can take accusative or dative:

Accusative = movement into something (direction)
- Ich gehe in den Park. → I go (into) the park.
- den Park = accusative masculine (der Park → den Park)
Dative = location (no movement)
- Ich bin in dem Park. / Ich bin im Park. → I am in the park.
- dem Park = dative masculine (der Park → dem Park)
- im = in dem contracted

In your sentence you are going to the park (movement), so accusative: in den Park.

What is the difference between „in den Park gehen“ and „zum Park gehen“?

in den Park gehen
- Literally: go into the park
- Emphasizes that you enter and are inside the park in the end.
zum Park gehen (= zu + dem Park)
- Literally: go to the park
- Focus is on going to the park’s location, not necessarily going inside; context often still implies you go there to use it.

In everyday speech, both can overlap, but „in den Park gehen“ fits very well when you mean you go there to spend time inside the park.

Why is „dreimal“ written as one word? Can I also write „drei Mal“?

Both forms exist:

dreimal (one word) – very common for fixed frequency adverbs:
- einmal, zweimal, dreimal, viermal, …
- This is the most usual way in modern German.
drei Mal (two words) – also possible:
- drei (three) + Mal (time/occurrence, a noun)
- Feels a bit more like you’re counting occurrences explicitly.

In sentences like yours, „dreimal“ as one word is the standard choice.

Where can „dreimal“ go in the sentence? Is „Ich gehe dreimal in der Woche in den Park“ the only correct order?

The given order is natural, but German word order is flexible. Common variants:

Ich gehe dreimal in der Woche in den Park. (neutral, very natural)
Ich gehe dreimal in den Park in der Woche. (possible, but less natural)
Ich gehe in der Woche dreimal in den Park. (also fine)
Dreimal in der Woche gehe ich in den Park. (fronting the time phrase for emphasis)

General tendencies:

Frequency adverbs like dreimal usually stand close to the verb, often early in the “middle field.”
Time expressions (like in der Woche) can move around for emphasis, but the original sentence is one of the most idiomatic versions.

Can I say „dreimal pro Woche“ or „dreimal die Woche“ instead of „dreimal in der Woche“?

Yes. All three are common, with slight nuances:

dreimal in der Woche – very standard and neutral.
dreimal pro Woche – also standard; pro Woche sounds a bit more formal/“counting-style,” like in statistics or schedules.
dreimal die Woche – very common in spoken German, sounds relaxed and colloquial, but still correct.

Examples:

Ich gehe dreimal in der Woche in den Park.
Ich gehe dreimal pro Woche in den Park.
Ich gehe dreimal die Woche in den Park.

All are fine.

Why is „Park“ capitalized? And why is „Woche“ also capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of position in the sentence.

Park is a noun → der Park → capitalized.
Woche is a noun → die Woche → capitalized.

So Ich gehe dreimal in der Woche in den Park. follows the rule that every noun starts with a capital letter.

Why is the verb „gehe“ used here and not „fahre“ or something else?

gehen = to go on foot, to walk
fahren = to go/travel by vehicle (car, bike, bus, train, etc.)

By default, „Ich gehe in den Park“ implies you walk there.
If you usually go by car or bike, you might say:

Ich fahre dreimal in der Woche in den Park.

The original sentence simply describes that you walk to the park three times a week.

How does „gehen“ change with different pronouns in a similar sentence?

Present tense of gehen:

ich gehe
du gehst
er/sie/es geht
wir gehen
ihr geht
sie/Sie gehen

So your sentence with other subjects:

Du gehst dreimal in der Woche in den Park.
Er/Sie geht dreimal in der Woche in den Park.
Wir gehen dreimal in der Woche in den Park.
Ihr geht dreimal in der Woche in den Park.
Sie gehen dreimal in der Woche in den Park.

Does „in der Woche“ mean during the week (Monday–Friday) or per week in general?

In this sentence it means per week / in a typical week (a measure of frequency), not necessarily Monday–Friday.

Ich gehe dreimal in der Woche in den Park.
→ I go to the park three times a week (could be on any days).

If you wanted to emphasize weekdays only, you’d normally say it differently, e.g.:

Unter der Woche gehe ich dreimal in den Park.
(On weekdays I go to the park three times.)

So „in der Woche“ here is a neutral “per week” frequency phrase.

Does „dreimal“ mean three separate visits on different days, or could it mean three times in one day?

By itself, „dreimal“ only says three times, not when.

In context, „dreimal in der Woche“ is usually understood as three separate occasions within that week, but those occasions could be on the same day (e.g. morning, afternoon, evening).

If you specifically meant three times on one day, you would say:

Ich gehe dreimal am Tag in den Park. – three times a day
Ich gehe dreimal am selben Tag in den Park. – three times on the same day (very explicit)

In everyday conversation, „dreimal in der Woche“ is interpreted as a normal weekly frequency, without focusing on whether some visits are on the same day.