Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche.

The online course starts next week.

Breakdown of Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche.

• beginnen: to begin
• die Woche: the week
• nächste: next
• der Onlinekurs: the online course

Questions & Answers about Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche.

Why is it Der Onlinekurs and not Die or Das Onlinekurs?

In German, every noun has a grammatical gender:

• der = masculine
• die = feminine
• das = neuter

Kurs (course) is a masculine noun in German: der Kurs.
Onlinekurs is a compound noun: Online + Kurs. In German compounds, the last part (Kurs) decides the gender, so:

• der Kurs → der Onlinekurs

You simply need to learn with the noun that it’s der Kurs, and therefore der Onlinekurs. There is no logical rule from the meaning; it’s just part of vocabulary learning.

What exactly is Onlinekurs, and why is it written as one capitalized word?

German often creates new nouns by joining words together:

• Online (online) + Kurs (course) → Onlinekurs (online course)

Rules here:

1. All nouns are capitalized in German, so Onlinekurs must start with a capital letter.
2. Compound nouns are usually written as one word: Onlinekurs, not Online Kurs. (A hyphen Online-Kurs is also possible and correct, especially in advertising or to improve readability.)

Plural:

• Singular: der Onlinekurs
• Plural: die Onlinekurse

What is the infinitive of beginnt, and how is it conjugated?

The infinitive (dictionary form) is beginnen = to begin / to start.

Present tense forms:

• ich beginne – I begin
• du beginnst – you begin (singular, informal)
• er / sie / es beginnt – he / she / it begins
• wir beginnen – we begin
• ihr beginnt – you begin (plural, informal)
• sie / Sie beginnen – they / you (formal) begin

In the sentence Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche, the subject is der Onlinekurs = er (he/it), so we use beginnt (3rd person singular).

Why is present tense (beginnt) used to talk about the future (“will start”)?

German very often uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially when the time is clear from context:

• Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche.
  Literally: The online course begins next week.
  Meaning: The online course will begin next week.

This is similar to English sentences like:

• “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
• “The train leaves at 6.”

You could also use future tense:

• Der Onlinekurs wird nächste Woche beginnen.

This is correct but feels a bit heavier or more formal in everyday language. The version with present tense is more common.

What is the grammatical role and case of nächste Woche? Why is there no preposition?

Nächste Woche is a time expression. In German:

• Time expressions are very often used without a preposition and are in the accusative case.

Examples:

• nächste Woche – next week
• jeden Tag – every day
• diesen Sommer – this summer

So in Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche, nächste Woche is an accusative time phrase meaning when something happens.

You could also say:

• Der Onlinekurs beginnt in der nächsten Woche.

This also uses the accusative (after in with time), but it sounds a bit more formal or “wordy” in this simple sentence. The preposition-less nächste Woche is the most natural.

Why is it nächste Woche and not nächsten Woche?

The form nächste- depends on:

1. the gender of the noun,
2. its case, and
3. whether there is an article before it.

Here:

• Woche is feminine: die Woche
• It’s used as a time expression in accusative
• There is no article before it (∅ Woche, not die Woche)

For a feminine noun in the accusative without an article, the adjective ending is -e:

• nächste Woche (next week)
• nächste Zeit (next time/period), if used similarly

Compare with other cases:

• die nächste Woche – the next week (with article: die)
• in der nächsten Woche – in the next week (preposition + article)

If it were a masculine noun like Tag (day), you’d see -en:

• nächsten Freitag – next Friday (masculine accusative without article)

So feminine accusative without article → -e → nächste Woche.

Could I also say Nächste Woche beginnt der Onlinekurs? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is completely correct.

Both are fine:

• Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche.
• Nächste Woche beginnt der Onlinekurs.

Rule: In a main clause, the conjugated verb must be in 2nd position. Position 1 can be:

• the subject (Der Onlinekurs) or
• a time/manner/place phrase (Nächste Woche)

So:

1. Der Onlinekurs – position 1 (subject)
2. beginnt – position 2 (verb)
3. nächste Woche – the rest

Or:

1. Nächste Woche – position 1 (time)
2. beginnt – position 2 (verb)
3. der Onlinekurs – the rest

Both sound natural; putting nächste Woche first emphasizes the time.

Is there a difference between beginnt, startet, and fängt an here?

All three can be used, and all mean that something begins:

• Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche.
• Der Onlinekurs startet nächste Woche.
• Der Onlinekurs fängt nächste Woche an.

Nuances:

• beginnt – neutral, standard, works in almost all contexts.
• startet – a bit more modern/informal; common with events, programs, campaigns, flights, etc.
• fängt ... an – separable verb (anfangen); very common in everyday speech, slightly more colloquial.

For a course, all three are fine; beginnt and startet are probably the most neutral in written information (websites, brochures).

How would I make this into a yes/no question, like “Does the online course start next week?”

For a yes/no question, put the conjugated verb first:

• Beginnt der Onlinekurs nächste Woche? – Does the online course start next week?

Answers:

• Ja, der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche. – Yes, the online course starts next week.
• Nein, der Onlinekurs beginnt erst übernächste Woche. – No, it doesn’t start until the week after next.

Word order rule: in yes/no questions, the verb comes first, and the subject follows it.

How would I say “The online course does not start next week”?

Use nicht for negation:

• Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche nicht.

Here, nicht comes after the time expression nächste Woche and at the end of the clause (since nothing else follows).

You can also emphasize different parts by changing word order a bit:

• Der Onlinekurs beginnt nicht nächste Woche, sondern übernächste Woche.
  (Not next week, but the week after next.)

But for simple negation, Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche nicht is fine.

What is the gender and plural of Woche, and is there any trick to remember it’s feminine?

Woche:

• Singular: die Woche – the week
• Plural: die Wochen – the weeks

It is feminine (die). There is no strict rule that “week” must be feminine; you just memorize it with its article:

• die Woche

A common strategy is to learn nouns always together with their article:

• die Woche, die Woche, die Woche (repeat as a chunk)

You also see its femininity in forms like:

• nächste Woche (feminine accusative without article → -e)
• in der nächsten Woche (feminine dative singular: der
  • -en)

How do you pronounce Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche?

Approximate pronunciation (in English-like spelling):

• Der – like “dair” (with a short “e”, not exactly “deer”)

• Onlinekurs –

  • On like English “on”
  • line like English “line”
  • kurs like “koors” (u like in “put”, but a bit longer)
    Main stress: ON-line-kurs (usually strongest on ON).
• beginnt – “beh-GINNT” (short i, final t clearly pronounced)
• nächste – “NEKH-ste”
  
  • ä like “e” in “bed”
  • ch = the “ich” sound, like a soft “h”/“sh” mix (not “k”)
• Woche – “VOH-khe”
  
  • W like English “v”
  • ch again like in nächste

So the whole sentence:

• Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche.
  → roughly: Dair ON-line-koors beh-GINNT NEKH-ste VOH-khe.

Is this sentence formal or informal?

The sentence Der Onlinekurs beginnt nächste Woche. is neutral in tone.

• It doesn’t use du or Sie, so it isn’t about addressing a person.
• It can appear equally well in formal contexts (website of a university, official email, brochure) and informal contexts (message from a friend).

If you put it into a full message, the choice of du vs Sie elsewhere in the text would determine the overall level of formality, not this sentence itself.