Learn Hardcore German: Die Schülerin liest abends in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte. - The female student reads a short story in the hammock in the evening.

Die Schülerin – subject, nominative, singular, feminine
liest – main verb, 3rd person singular, present tense (from lesen)
abends – adverb of time (“in the evenings”)
in der Hängematte – prepositional phrase of place, dative (location)
- in – two-way preposition (can take accusative or dative)
- der – dative singular feminine article
- Hängematte – noun, feminine, singular
eine Kurzgeschichte – direct object, accusative, singular, feminine
- eine – accusative singular feminine indefinite article
- Kurzgeschichte – noun, feminine, singular (“short story”)

So the pattern is: Subject – Verb – Time – Place – Object.

Why is it Die Schülerin and not Der Schülerin or Dem Schülerin?

Because Schülerin is:

Feminine
Subject of the sentence
Therefore in the nominative case

The nominative feminine definite article is die:

Nominative: die Schülerin (subject)
Accusative: die Schülerin (direct object)
Dative: der Schülerin
Genitive: der Schülerin

Here the girl (the pupil) is doing the action (reading), so she must be in the nominative: die Schülerin.

What is the difference between Schülerin and Schüler?

Both mean “pupil / student (at school)” but they differ in gender:

Schüler – male pupil, or a generic form in some contexts (masculine)
Schülerin – female pupil (feminine)

German often forms the feminine version with -in:

Lehrer → Lehrerin (teacher)
Student → Studentin
Arzt → Ärztin

So Die Schülerin = “the (female) pupil”.

Why is the verb liest and not lesen or liestet?

The infinitive is lesen (“to read”).
It’s conjugated in the present tense as:

ich lese – I read
du liest – you read (singular, informal)
er/sie/es liest – he/she/it reads
wir lesen – we read
ihr lest – you read (plural, informal)
sie/Sie lesen – they / you (formal) read

The subject here is die Schülerin = sie (she, 3rd person singular), so we must use:

sie liest → Die Schülerin liest

So liest is the correct 3rd person singular form.

Why is liest in the second position in the sentence?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule:

The conjugated verb must be the second element in the sentence.

In our sentence:

Die Schülerin – first element (the entire noun phrase counts as one element)
liest – second element (the finite verb)
abends in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte – the rest (middle field)

You can move other parts to the front, but the verb stays second, for example:

Abends liest die Schülerin in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte.
In der Hängematte liest die Schülerin abends eine Kurzgeschichte.

In all cases, the verb remains in second position.

What exactly does abends mean, and how is it different from am Abend?

abends is an adverb meaning roughly:

“in the evenings”, “in the evening (as a general habit)”

It usually implies habitual or repeated action:

Sie liest abends. – She reads in the evenings (as a routine).

am Abend literally means “on the evening” → “in the evening”, and is often more specific:

Sie liest am Abend. – She reads in the evening (today / a specific evening, or more neutral).

In many everyday contexts they can overlap, but:

abends → habitual, general
am Abend → more like a particular evening or neutral time reference

Why is it in der Hängematte and not in die Hängematte?

The preposition in can take dative or accusative:

Dative → location (where something is)
Accusative → movement/direction (where something is going)

Here, we describe a location (where she is reading), not movement:

She reads in the hammock (she is already there, no movement into it).

So we use dative:

Feminine noun Hängematte:
- Nominative: die Hängematte
- Accusative: die Hängematte
- Dative: der Hängematte

Hence: in der Hängematte (in + dative = location).

If we were describing movement into the hammock, we would use accusative:

Sie legt sich in die Hängematte. – She lies down in(to) the hammock.

Why is it der Hängematte in the phrase in der Hängematte if the basic form is die Hängematte?

Because of the case change:

The dictionary form is die Hängematte – nominative singular feminine.
In the sentence, it appears in a prepositional phrase with in indicating location → dative case.

Feminine definite article:

Nominative: die Hängematte
Accusative: die Hängematte
Dative: der Hängematte
Genitive: der Hängematte

So with in + dative we get: in der Hängematte.

Why is eine Kurzgeschichte at the end of the sentence and not directly after the verb?

German word order in the middle field (between verb and sentence-final elements) is flexible, but there are common tendencies like:

Time – Place – Object (a version of the TeKaMoLo guideline)

Our sentence follows:

abends – time
in der Hängematte – place
eine Kurzgeschichte – direct object

So:

Die Schülerin liest abends in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte.

Other orders are possible and still correct, but may sound less neutral or slightly more marked:

Die Schülerin liest abends eine Kurzgeschichte in der Hängematte. (still okay)
Die Schülerin liest eine Kurzgeschichte abends in der Hängematte. (focus changes)

The version given is very natural-sounding German.

Which case is eine Kurzgeschichte, and how would that change in other cases?

In the sentence, eine Kurzgeschichte is the direct object, so it’s in the accusative case:

eine Kurzgeschichte – accusative singular feminine

For a feminine noun with the indefinite article, the forms are:

Nominative: eine Kurzgeschichte – (as subject)
Accusative: eine Kurzgeschichte – (as direct object)
Dative: einer Kurzgeschichte
Genitive: einer Kurzgeschichte

So nominative and accusative feminine look the same with eine; you usually tell them apart by function in the sentence.

Why is it eine Kurzgeschichte and not die Kurzgeschichte?

The choice between eine (a) and die (the) is about definiteness:

eine Kurzgeschichte – “a short story”; not specific, just some short story
die Kurzgeschichte – “the short story”; specific, already known from context

In the sentence, we’re describing what she reads in general; it’s not a particular, previously mentioned story, so eine Kurzgeschichte is natural.

If the short story had been mentioned before, we would use die:

Sie hat sich eine Kurzgeschichte ausgesucht. Abends liest sie jetzt die Kurzgeschichte in der Hängematte.

Why is Kurzgeschichte written as one word and capitalized?

Two points:

Compound noun
German very often combines nouns into one long noun:
- Kurz (short) + Geschichte (story) → Kurzgeschichte (short story)
- Hand
  - Tasche → Handtasche (handbag)
- Haus
  - Aufgabe → Hausaufgabe (homework)
So Kurzgeschichte is correctly one word.
Capitalization of nouns
In German, all nouns are capitalized, whether common or proper:
- die Schülerin
- die Hängematte
- die Kurzgeschichte

That’s why Kurzgeschichte starts with a capital K.

How is Kurzgeschichte pronounced and where is the main stress?

Pronunciation (approximate):

Kurzgeschichte → [ˈkʊrtsɡəˌʃɪçtə]

Key points:

Kurz – like English “kurts” (short u as in put):
- z is pronounced like ts
ge – a very weak ge-, like “guh” (unstressed)
sch – like English sh
ie in -geschichte is a long ee sound
ch in -geschichte is the soft ch sound ([ç]), somewhat like the h in Scottish “hugh”, but more fronted.

Stress:

Main stress on Kurz: KÚRZgeschichte
Secondary stress on -schich-: KurzGEschichte

Can the sentence also be Abends liest die Schülerin in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is perfectly correct and very natural.

Abends is moved to the first position for emphasis on the time.
Because German main clauses are verb-second, the verb liest stays in second position.
The subject die Schülerin then comes after the verb.

So:

Die Schülerin liest abends in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte. (neutral start with subject)
Abends liest die Schülerin in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte. (emphasizes when she reads)

Both are grammatical; the difference is mostly in focus and style, not correctness.

Does liest here mean “reads” or “is reading”? How do you say the English present continuous in German?

German does not have a special present continuous form like English “is reading”.

The simple present liest can mean both:

She reads (general/habit)
She is reading (right now, in this situation)

So:

Die Schülerin liest abends in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte.
- could be translated as:
  - “The pupil reads a short story in the hammock in the evenings.” (habit)
  - or “The pupil is reading a short story in the hammock in the evenings.” (if context implies ongoing routine)

If you really need to stress the “right now” meaning, you add an adverb like gerade:

Die Schülerin liest gerade in der Hängematte eine Kurzgeschichte. – The pupil is reading a short story in the hammock right now.

What is the plural of Schülerin and Kurzgeschichte, and do the articles change?

Yes, both pluralize regularly, and the articles change:

Schülerin (female pupil)
- Singular: die Schülerin
- Plural: die Schülerinnen (add -nen)
Example:
- Die Schülerinnen lesen abends in der Hängematte Kurzgeschichten.
Kurzgeschichte (short story)
- Singular: die Kurzgeschichte
- Plural: die Kurzgeschichten (add -n)
Example:
- Die Schülerin liest abends in der Hängematte Kurzgeschichten. – The pupil reads short stories in the hammock in the evenings.

Note that die is used for all plural nouns in nominative and accusative, regardless of the gender in the singular.