Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.

Our band is playing in the park this evening.

Breakdown of Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.

• spielen: to play
• heute: today
• der Abend: the evening
• unser: our
• der Park: the park
• im: in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• die Band: the band

Questions & Answers about Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.

Why is it unsere Band and not unser Band?

Because Band is grammatically feminine in German: die Band.

Possessive words like mein, dein, unser behave a bit like the article ein and must agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun.

Here, Band is:

• gender: feminine
• number: singular
• case: nominative (it’s the subject of the sentence)

For feminine nominative singular, unser takes the ending -e:

• unser + e → unsere Band

Compare:

• unser Hund (masculine nominative: der Hund)
• unsere Band (feminine nominative: die Band)
• unser Auto (neuter nominative: das Auto)
• unsere Freunde (plural nominative: die Freunde)

Why is Band capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.

So:

• die Band – the band
• der Park – the park
• der Abend – the evening

Verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech are normally not capitalized unless they begin a sentence or are part of a proper name.

Why is it spielt and not something like “ist am Spielen” to mean “is playing / will play”?

German usually uses the simple present tense to express:

• actions happening now, and
• future actions, when the context makes the time clear.

So:

• Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.
  = Our band is playing / will play in the park this evening.

You can form a future tense with werden:

• Unsere Band wird heute Abend im Park spielen.

But in everyday German, the simple present (spielt) with a time expression (heute Abend) is completely normal and often preferred. There is no natural German tense like English “is playing” formed with sein + am + Verb.

Could I say Unsere Band wird heute Abend im Park spielen instead? Is there a difference?

Yes, that sentence is correct too.

• Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.
  Very common, neutral, and natural.

• Unsere Band wird heute Abend im Park spielen.
  Slightly more explicit that it’s a future event; can sound a bit more formal or planned.

In most everyday situations, Germans choose the present tense + time word (spielt heute Abend) for the future.

What does im mean here, and why not just in dem Park?

im is a common contraction in German:

• im = in dem

So literally:

• im Park = in dem Park = in the park

This contraction is very standard and almost always used in speech and everyday writing. Saying in dem Park is grammatically correct but sounds more emphasized or formal, and you’d rarely use it in such a simple sentence unless you want to contrast one park with another.

Why is it im Park (dative) and not in den Park (accusative)?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:

• Dative = location (answer to Wo? = Where?)
• Accusative = movement into something (answer to Wohin? = Where to?)

In your sentence:

• Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.
  → Where is the band playing? Im Park.
  → No movement, just being/playing somewhere → dative

If you want to express movement into the park, you’d use accusative:

• Unsere Band geht heute Abend in den Park.
  → Where is the band going (to)? In den Park. → accusative

What gender is Park, and why do we use dem in “in dem Park”?

Park is masculine in German: der Park.

In the dative singular, the masculine article der becomes dem:

• Nominative: der Park (subject)
• Accusative: den Park (direct object, or movement into)
• Dative: dem Park (location, indirect object)

Since im = in dem, and we have a location, we use dem (dative):

• in dem Park → im Park

Why is heute Abend before im Park? Could I say Unsere Band spielt im Park heute Abend?

German has a fairly flexible word order, but there is a common pattern for information in a sentence:

Time – Manner – Place

So:

• Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.
  Time (heute Abend) before place (im Park) sounds very natural.

You can say:

• Unsere Band spielt im Park heute Abend.

This is grammatically correct, but less typical. Putting heute Abend earlier fits the usual rhythm and emphasis. In normal speech and writing, heute Abend im Park is the most natural order.

What is the difference between heute Abend and heute Nacht?

• heute Abend = this evening, usually from late afternoon until the night starts (roughly until 10–11 p.m., context dependent).
• heute Nacht = tonight / last night (depending on verb tense and context), referring to the late night hours, when it’s properly night and people would normally sleep.

So:

• A concert at 7 p.m.: heute Abend
• A strange noise at 2 a.m.: heute Nacht

Why is it heute Abend and not diesen Abend for “this evening”?

In German, “tonight / this evening” is almost always expressed with heute Abend, not diesen Abend.

• heute Abend – standard, natural:
  Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park.

• diesen Abend – technically possible but sounds unusual in this sense; more like “this particular evening (as opposed to another evening)” in a very specific comparison or literary style.

So if you mean “this evening / tonight” in everyday language, you should use heute Abend.

Is Band always feminine? Could it be plural like in English, where we sometimes treat a band as “they”?

In German grammar, Band is a singular, feminine noun: die Band.

• Unsere Band spielt heute Abend.
  Verb is singular (spielt), agreeing with die Band.

If you want to emphasize the members as individuals (a plural), you usually change the wording:

• Unsere Musiker spielen heute Abend im Park.
• Wir spielen heute Abend im Park. (if you are in the band)

But as long as you use the word Band, it is treated as grammatically singular, feminine in German.

How do you pronounce Unsere Band spielt heute Abend im Park?

Approximate pronunciation with English hints (not exact IPA, but close):

• Unsere – “OON-ze-reh”
  • Un like “oon”
  • se like “zuh”
  • re like short “reh”
• Band – almost like English “band,” but the a is a bit shorter, and final d may sound a bit like t in some accents.
• spielt – “shpeelt”
  • sp at the beginning of a word usually sounds like shp.
• heute – “HOY-tuh”
• Abend – “AH-bent” (the final d often sounds closer to t).
• im – like English “im” in “improv”
• Park – like “park,” but with a sharper k at the end.

All together, something like: “OON-ze-reh band shpilt HOY-tuh AH-bent im park.”