Breakdown of Ich sitze mit einer Kommilitonin in der Vorlesung.
Questions & Answers about Ich sitze mit einer Kommilitonin in der Vorlesung.
German doesn’t have a separate present continuous tense like English (I sit vs I am sitting).
Both meanings are usually expressed with the simple present:
- Ich sitze. = I sit / I am sitting (right now).
- Ich lese. = I read / I am reading.
If you really want to stress that it’s happening right now, you can add gerade:
- Ich sitze gerade in der Vorlesung. = I am (right now) sitting in the lecture.
But you do not say ich bin am Sitzen in standard German; that construction is dialectal in some regions and not generally taught as correct standard German.
Because the preposition mit always takes the dative case in German.
- The noun Kommilitonin is feminine.
- The indefinite article for feminine dative singular is einer.
Quick overview of feminine “eine” in the singular:
- Nominative: eine Kommilitonin (Wer? – who?)
- Accusative: eine Kommilitonin (Wen? – whom?)
- Dative: einer Kommilitonin (Wem? – to/with whom?)
- Genitive: einer Kommilitonin (Wessen? – whose?)
Because mit needs dative, you must use einer:
- ✅ mit einer Kommilitonin
- ❌ mit eine Kommilitonin
- ❌ mit ein Kommilitonin
Kommilitonin means a female fellow student at university (same program, faculty, or at least same university).
It does not automatically imply friendship; it’s more like:
- “fellow student”
- “course mate” / “uni mate”
Differences:
- Freundin
- primary meaning: female friend
- also: girlfriend (romantic context)
- Klassenkameradin / Mitschülerin
- for school (pupils), not university
- Mitstudentin / Studienkollegin
- also “fellow (female) student”, often interchangeable with Kommilitonin
So in the sentence, you’re just saying you sit with a fellow student, not necessarily a close friend.
The ending -in is the standard marker for a female person in many German nouns referring to people.
- Masculine: der Kommilitone = male fellow student
- Feminine: die Kommilitonin = female fellow student
This pattern is very common:
- der Student → die Studentin
- der Lehrer → die Lehrerin
- der Freund → die Freundin
So Kommilitonin is specifically female. If gender isn’t important or the group is mixed, people often just use the plural masculine form Kommilitonen for everyone, or more inclusive forms like Kommilitoninnen und Kommilitonen or Kommiliton*innen.
The usual plural is:
- die Kommilitoninnen (plural, female)
Some key forms:
- Singular:
- Nominative: die Kommilitonin
- Dative: mit einer Kommilitonin
- Plural:
- Nominative: die Kommilitoninnen
- Dative: mit Kommilitoninnen / mit den Kommilitoninnen
Example sentences:
Ich sitze mit zwei Kommilitoninnen in der Vorlesung.
I’m sitting with two (female) fellow students in the lecture.Ich sitze mit meinen Kommilitoninnen in der Vorlesung.
I’m sitting with my (female) fellow students in the lecture.
For a mixed group, you’d usually say Kommilitonen in plural.
The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:
- Dative: location (where?) → in der Vorlesung
- Accusative: direction/motion (where to?) → in die Vorlesung
In your sentence, you are already there, sitting in the lecture, so it’s about location, not movement:
- Ich sitze in der Vorlesung.
I am sitting in the lecture. (where?)
If you describe going there, you’d use the accusative:
- Ich gehe in die Vorlesung.
I’m going to the lecture. (where to?)
Vorlesung is a specific type of university lecture:
- typically one professor speaking
- often to a larger group of students
- mostly one-way: the professor talks, students listen and take notes
It’s different from:
- das Seminar – smaller, more interactive course at university
- der Kurs – a “course” in general (can be uni, language school, gym, etc.)
- der Unterricht – “lessons” / “instruction” (especially in school)
So in der Vorlesung means in the (university) lecture, not just in any class.
Der is the definite article (the), while eine is indefinite (a).
in der Vorlesung
→ a specific lecture that speaker and listener both know about.
E.g. “in the physics lecture (that we have every Monday)”.in einer Vorlesung
→ in some lecture, not specified which.
E.g. “I happened to be sitting in some lecture when it happened.”
So your sentence assumes both people know which lecture is meant (e.g. “our 10 a.m. lecture”).
Yes, you can say both:
- Ich sitze mit einer Kommilitonin in der Vorlesung.
- Ich sitze in der Vorlesung mit einer Kommilitonin.
Both are grammatically correct and mean the same basic thing.
The difference is very subtle and mostly about focus:
- Version 1 slightly highlights with whom you’re sitting.
- Version 2 slightly highlights where you’re sitting.
In everyday speech, both sound natural. German word order inside the “middle field” (between verb parts) is relatively flexible.
In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.
- Kommilitonin is a noun → capitalized.
- Vorlesung is a noun → capitalized.
Also:
- The pronoun Ich is always written with a capital I, even in the middle of a sentence.
- Verbs, adjectives, etc. are not capitalized (unless they’re at the beginning of a sentence or used as nouns).
So the capitalization you see is just normal German spelling rules.
Approximate pronunciation (in simple English sounds):
Kommilitonin:
KOH-mih-li-TOH-nin- Stress on the -to-: kom-mi-li-TO-nin
- Each i is like the “i” in bit, but a bit clearer and shorter.
Vorlesung:
FOR-lay-zoong- Stress on the first syllable: VOR-le-sung
- V is pronounced like English “f”.
- -ung is like “oong” but shorter and less rounded; it’s one nasal sound.
In IPA (if that helps):
- Kommilitonin → [ˌkɔmiliˈtoːnɪn]
- Vorlesung → [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌleːzʊŋ]
Yes, you could say:
- Ich sitze mit einer Studentin in der Vorlesung.
This means: “I am sitting with a female student in the lecture.”
It’s correct, but slightly less specific: it just says she is a student, not necessarily that she is your fellow student in the same program.
Nuance:
- Kommilitonin → fellow (female) student from your university / program
- Studentin → any female student (not necessarily connected to you)
Both are common, and in many contexts, people won’t care about the distinction.