Breakdown of Abends nehme ich mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
Questions & Answers about Abends nehme ich mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
Abends is an adverb meaning “in the evenings / in the evening (generally, habitually)”.
- Abends nehme ich … = In the evenings I (usually) take … (repeated, habitual action).
- am Abend nehme ich … = in the evening I’ll take … (can refer to a specific evening or a more neutral time expression).
Also about capitalization:
- At the start of a sentence, the first letter is always capital, so you see Abends.
- Inside a sentence it is normally written abends (lowercase), because it functions as an adverb:
- Ich nehme abends mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
Both are correct; the difference is emphasis and style, not grammar.
German main clauses follow the verb‑second rule:
- One element (subject, time, place, object, etc.) goes in position 1.
- The conjugated verb must be in position 2.
So you can say:
- Abends (time) nehme (verb) ich (subject) …
- Ich (subject) nehme (verb) abends (time) …
Putting Abends first highlights the time:
- Abends nehme ich mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
→ Focus on when this usually happens. - Ich nehme abends mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
→ More neutral; focus a bit more on I.
Both are natural German.
Because mitnehmen is a separable verb (trennbares Verb).
- The dictionary form is mitnehmen (to take along, take with you).
In a normal main clause, the prefix (mit) goes to the end of the clause, while the conjugated part (nehme) stays in the usual verb position:
- Ich nehme mein Skizzenbuch mit.
- Abends nehme ich mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
In a subordinate clause, the parts come back together at the end:
- …, weil ich mein Skizzenbuch mitnehme.
So:
- Main clause: nehme … mit
- Subordinate clause: mitnehme
mit adds the idea of “along / with (me)” to the movement into the garden.
- Ich nehme mein Skizzenbuch in den Garten.
→ grammatically okay, but usually understood as “I take my sketchbook to the garden” (destination only). - Ich nehme mein Skizzenbuch mit.
→ “I take my sketchbook with me (along)” but no destination given. - Ich nehme mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
→ “I take my sketchbook along with me into the garden.” (both: with me + into the garden)
So mit in den Garten combines:
- mitnehmen = to take something along
- in den Garten = where you are going with it
Yes, you can say:
- Abends nehme ich mein Skizzenbuch in den Garten mit.
This is also correct. For separable verbs used with other phrases at the end, German allows some variation in word order:
- … mit in den Garten.
- … in den Garten mit.
Both are possible and usually mean the same. Many speakers slightly prefer mit in den Garten, but in den Garten mit doesn’t sound wrong.
The main rule is simply: the separable prefix mit must appear at the end of the clause in a main clause.
Because in den Garten expresses movement into the garden, which requires the accusative after in.
The preposition in is a two‑way preposition (Wechselpräposition).
- With movement / direction → accusative
- With location (no movement) → dative
Compare:
- Ich gehe in den Garten. (accusative → direction: into the garden)
- Ich bin im Garten. (dative → location: in the garden)
im Garten is a contraction of in dem Garten (dative):
- in dem Garten → im Garten (in the garden – location)
In your sentence, you are going into the garden with the sketchbook, so it must be in den Garten (accusative).
Because Garten is masculine in German, and after in with movement we need the accusative case.
Masculine definite article:
- Nominative: der Garten (subject)
- Accusative: den Garten (direct object / direction)
Here, den Garten is the destination of the movement, so it is in the accusative:
- Ich gehe in den Garten.
- Ich nehme mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.
Yes, mein Skizzenbuch is in the accusative, but Skizzenbuch is neuter, and neuter words do not change form from nominative to accusative with mein.
Possessive determiners like mein, dein, sein behave like the indefinite article ein.
For neuter nouns:
- Nominative: mein Skizzenbuch
- Accusative: mein Skizzenbuch
For masculine nouns, you do see a change:
- Nominative: mein Garten
- Accusative: meinen Garten
So it’s:
- Ich habe ein Skizzenbuch. Ich nehme mein Skizzenbuch mit. (neuter)
- Ich habe einen Garten. Ich pflege meinen Garten. (masculine)
You do not use an article together with a possessive determiner like mein.
In German, mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, etc. already function as a kind of article (a possessive determiner). You normally choose either an article or a possessive, not both:
- das Skizzenbuch = the sketchbook
- mein Skizzenbuch = my sketchbook
(not das mein Skizzenbuch in normal usage)
So mein Skizzenbuch is the correct form here.
These verbs all involve moving something, but from different perspectives:
nehmen = to take
→ focus on the act of taking: Ich nehme das Buch. (I take the book.)mitnehmen = to take along / take with you
→ you take something with you when you go somewhere:
Ich nehme mein Skizzenbuch mit in den Garten.bringen = to bring (to someone / somewhere)
→ movement towards someone or a place:
Ich bringe dir das Skizzenbuch. (I’ll bring you the sketchbook.)mitbringen = to bring along (with you to someone)
→ you come to a place and have something with you as you arrive:
Ich bringe mein Skizzenbuch mit. (I’ll bring my sketchbook (with me).)
English sometimes uses take and bring differently from German, so it helps to remember:
- Going away from your current point of reference → (mit)nehmen
- Coming towards someone / a place → (mit)bringen
Yes. Jeden Abend is perfectly correct and a bit more explicit:
- Abends nehme ich … = generally, in the evenings (habit, but a bit vague)
- Jeden Abend nehme ich … = every evening (more clearly “every single evening”)
Both describe a repeated action. Abends sounds slightly more like a routine, jeden Abend emphasizes the frequency (every evening).