Mein Kommilitone hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit.

My fellow student helps me with the term paper.

Breakdown of Mein Kommilitone hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit.

• mein: my
• mir: me
• bei: with
• helfen: to help
• der Kommilitone: the fellow student
• die Hausarbeit: the term paper

Questions & Answers about Mein Kommilitone hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit.

What exactly does Kommilitone mean, and how is it different from Kollege or Freund?

Kommilitone means fellow student at a university – someone who studies at the same university, often in the same program or course.

• Kommilitone: specifically a (usually male) fellow university student
• Kommilitonin: female form
• Kollege: colleague at work, or sometimes a fellow professional (e.g. another teacher, doctor, etc.), not automatically someone who studies with you
• Freund: friend (can be a close friend, or in some contexts boyfriend)

So mein Kommilitone = my fellow student / my classmate at university, not my colleague in the work sense and not necessarily my friend (though he could be a friend too).

Why is it Mein Kommilitone and not Meine Kommilitone?

The possessive mein- must agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun it describes.

• Kommilitone is masculine singular.
• In this sentence, Mein Kommilitone is the subject, so it’s in the nominative case.

Nominative singular possessives:

• Masculine: mein Kommilitone
• Feminine: meine Freundin
• Neuter: mein Buch
• Plural: meine Freunde

So for a masculine subject in the nominative, you use mein, not meine.

Why does the noun end in -e (Kommilitone) and not just Kommiliton?

Kommilitone belongs to the group of weak masculine nouns (also called n‑declension nouns).

These nouns:

• Have an -e in the base form: der Kommilitone
• Add -n or -en in all cases except nominative singular.

Declension of der Kommilitone:

• Nominative: der Kommilitone – Mein Kommilitone hilft mir.
• Accusative: den Kommilitonen – Ich sehe meinen Kommilitonen.
• Dative: dem Kommilitonen – Ich rede mit meinem Kommilitonen.
• Genitive: des Kommilitonen – Das ist das Buch meines Kommilitonen.

So the base form is Kommilitone, not Kommiliton.

Why is the verb hilft and not helft or helfen?

The infinitive is helfen. It’s an irregular verb with a vowel change (e → i) in the du and er/sie/es forms.

Present tense conjugation:

• ich helfe
• du hilfst
• er / sie / es hilft
• wir helfen
• ihr helft
• sie / Sie helfen

The subject here is mein Kommilitone = er, so the correct form is hilft.

Why is it mir and not mich after hilft?

Mir is the dative form of ich, and helfen always takes a dative object.

Pronouns for ich:

• Nominative: ich
• Accusative: mich
• Dative: mir

In German:

• jemandem helfen = to help someone (dative!)
  • Er hilft mir.
  • Sie hilft dir.
  • Wir helfen ihm.

So in this sentence mir is correct because helfen governs the dative, not the accusative.

Could I say Mein Kommilitone hilft mich?

No, that is incorrect in standard German.

Because:

• helfen requires a dative object.
• mich is accusative, but the verb needs mir (dative).

Correct is:

• Mein Kommilitone hilft mir.

What case is mir, exactly?

Mir is 1st person singular dative.

Quick overview for ich:

• Nominative (subject): ich – Ich lerne Deutsch.
• Accusative (direct object): mich – Sie sieht mich.
• Dative (indirect object): mir – Er hilft mir.

In Mein Kommilitone hilft mir, mir is the indirect object (the person who receives the help), so it’s in the dative case.

Why is it bei der Hausarbeit and not bei die Hausarbeit?

Two points:

1. Preposition:
   bei always takes the dative case in German.

2. Article declension:
   Hausarbeit is feminine. Feminine singular articles:

   • Nominative: die Hausarbeit
   • Accusative: die Hausarbeit
   • Dative: der Hausarbeit
   • Genitive: der Hausarbeit

So, after bei you must use the dative, which is der Hausarbeit.

Hence: bei der Hausarbeit, not bei die Hausarbeit.

What does bei express here, and could I also use mit?

Here bei expresses “in connection with / while doing / in the context of” the housework/homework.

• jemandem bei etwas helfen ≈ to help someone with something (during that activity)

You can often also say mit:

• Er hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit.
• Er hilft mir mit der Hausarbeit.

Both are acceptable.
Typical nuance:

• bei der Hausarbeit – more like while I’m doing the work / in the course of the work.
• mit der Hausarbeit – slightly more like by contributing to the work / helping with the task itself.

In everyday conversation, the difference is small; both are common.

Does Hausarbeit mean housework (chores) or homework / a term paper?

Hausarbeit can mean several things, depending on context:

1. Household chores / housework

   • Ich mache die Hausarbeit. – I do the housework.

2. School homework (less common; usually Hausaufgaben is used for that)

   • Ich habe viel Hausarbeit für morgen.

3. Academic paper / term paper at university

   • Ich schreibe eine Hausarbeit in Geschichte. – I’m writing a term paper in history.

So in a university context, bei der Hausarbeit will often be understood as with my term paper. In a home context, it will more likely be with the housework.

Why are Kommilitone and Hausarbeit capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of where they appear in the sentence.

• Mein Kommilitone hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit.
  • Kommilitone = noun → capitalized
  • Hausarbeit = noun → capitalized

Adjectives, verbs, and most other word types are written in lowercase (unless they start a sentence or are part of a proper name).

Why is the word order hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit and not hilft bei der Hausarbeit mir?

The usual neutral word order in a main clause is:

Subject – Verb – (dative object) – (accusative object) – other information (prepositional phrases, adverbs, etc.)

In this sentence:

• Subject: Mein Kommilitone
• Verb: hilft
• Dative object (pronoun): mir
• Prepositional phrase: bei der Hausarbeit

Pronouns (like mir) normally come before longer phrases such as bei der Hausarbeit.
So:

• Mein Kommilitone hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit. (natural)
• Mein Kommilitone hilft bei der Hausarbeit mir. (grammatical but sounds awkward and marked; rarely used in everyday speech)

How would the sentence change if the fellow student were female?

For a female fellow student, you use Kommilitonin (feminine), and the possessive also changes to the feminine form meine in the nominative:

• Meine Kommilitonin hilft mir bei der Hausarbeit.

Changes:

• Mein Kommilitone (masculine) → Meine Kommilitonin (feminine)
• Rest of the sentence stays the same.