Learn Hardcore German: Vor der Prüfung wiederhole ich nur noch die Lernkarten mit den Vokabeln, die ich leicht vergesse. - Before the exam I only review the study cards with the vocabulary that I easily forget.

In vor der Prüfung, we are talking about a time when something happens (before the exam), not movement towards the exam, so German uses the dative: der Prüfung (feminine dative singular of die Prüfung).

Why does the sentence start with Vor der Prüfung instead of Ich wiederhole …?

German main clauses are “verb‑second” (the conjugated verb must be in second position), but the first position can be almost anything: subject, time phrase, object, etc.

The speaker puts Vor der Prüfung first to emphasize the time frame. The structure is:

Vor der Prüfung (position 1: time phrase)
wiederhole (position 2: verb)
ich (position 3: subject)
… (rest of the sentence)

If you start with the subject, you get a more neutral version: Ich wiederhole vor der Prüfung nur noch …

What exactly does nur noch mean here, and how is it different from just nur or just noch?

Nur = only
Noch (in this context) = (any) more / still

Combined as nur noch, it often means:

only (and nothing else anymore)
just (as in: that’s the only thing left to do)

So ich wiederhole nur noch die Lernkarten implies: At this stage, the only thing I’m still doing is going through the flashcards; I’m not doing any other type of studying anymore.

If you said only ich wiederhole nur die Lernkarten, it could mean “I only repeat the flashcards” (maybe you never do anything else), without the same “at this point / any more” nuance.

Could nur noch go somewhere else in the sentence, like ich wiederhole die Lernkarten nur noch?

Yes, you can move nur noch a bit:

Vor der Prüfung wiederhole ich nur noch die Lernkarten … (neutral/default)
Vor der Prüfung wiederhole ich die Lernkarten nur noch … (very similar meaning)

Both are fine. In spoken language, nur noch usually goes before the part it logically limits. Here, the focus is die Lernkarten (that’s the only thing left), so nur noch die Lernkarten feels especially natural.

Putting it directly before the verb (nur noch wiederhole ich …) would sound marked or stylistic and is less common in everyday speech.

Does wiederhole mean “repeat” or “review” here?

Literally, wiederholen means to repeat, but in study contexts it very often means to review / go over again.

So ich wiederhole die Lernkarten is best understood as:

“I review the flashcards” / “I go through the flashcards again,”

not “I say the flashcards twice” in a mechanical sense. Context (studying for an exam) makes the review meaning clear.

Why is it Lernkarten mit den Vokabeln and not Lernkarten für die Vokabeln?

Both structures are possible, but they say slightly different things:

Lernkarten mit den Vokabeln = flashcards with the vocabulary on them
→ The cards contain these vocabulary items.
Lernkarten für die Vokabeln = flashcards for learning the vocabulary (more abstract)
→ The cards are intended for those vocabulary items, less direct about them being written on the cards.

In practice, Lernkarten mit den Vokabeln is a very natural way to describe actual cards that have those specific words on them.

What is the difference between Vokabeln and Wörter?

Both can translate as words, but they’re used differently:

die Vokabel (Plural: die Vokabeln)
= a vocabulary item you learn in a foreign language
→ typical in language learning contexts.
das Wort (Plural: die Wörter / die Worte)
= a word in general; Wörter is the normal plural.

So for “vocabulary items you learn from a list or flashcards,” Vokabeln is the natural choice. Saying Lernkarten mit den Wörtern would be understood, but it sounds less specific to language learning.

In die Vokabeln, die ich leicht vergesse, what does die refer to, and why is it die?

Here, die is a relative pronoun referring back to die Vokabeln.

Antecedent: die Vokabeln (plural, feminine singular noun, but here plural form)
Relative pronoun: die (nominative/accusative plural form)

Grammatically, die is:

Plural (because it refers to Vokabeln),
Accusative (because it is the direct object of vergesse in the relative clause).

So the inner sentence is: Ich vergesse die (Vokabeln) leicht.

Why is the verb vergesse at the end in die ich leicht vergesse?

Die ich leicht vergesse is a relative clause (a clause that describes Vokabeln). In German:

In main clauses, the conjugated verb is in second position.
In subordinate clauses (including relative clauses), the conjugated verb goes to the end of the clause.

So the relative clause structure is:

die (relative pronoun)
ich (subject)
leicht (adverb)
vergesse (verb at the end)

That’s why you get … die ich leicht vergesse, not … die ich leicht vergesse ich or … die ich vergesse leicht.

What does leicht mean here? Is it “light,” “easy,” or “easily”?

In this context, leicht means easily (an adverb).

Ich vergesse sie leicht. = “I forget them easily.”

The adjective meaning light (not heavy) is also leicht, but that doesn’t fit contextually here. You could paraphrase it as ohne Mühe / ohne Probleme vergesse ich sie (“I forget them without difficulty”).

If you said die ich einfach vergesse, that would be closer to “the ones I just forget” and sounds less neutral; leicht is the standard adverb here.

Why is there a comma before die ich leicht vergesse?

German uses a comma to separate relative clauses from the main clause. The part die ich leicht vergesse is a relative clause describing which vocabulary items you mean (“the ones I easily forget”).

Structure:

Main clause: Vor der Prüfung wiederhole ich nur noch die Lernkarten mit den Vokabeln
Relative clause: die ich leicht vergesse

By rule, relative clauses are always preceded by a comma in German.

Could you leave out the second ich and just say die leicht vergesse?

No, you cannot omit ich here. German subordinate and relative clauses must have an explicit subject (unless there is some special construction that changes the subject, which is not the case here).

The full inner sentence is ich vergesse die Vokabeln leicht. When we turn it into a relative clause, we replace die Vokabeln with die, but we keep ich:

ich vergesse die Vokabeln leicht
→ die ich leicht vergesse

Die leicht vergesse would be ungrammatical.

Is there any difference in meaning between die ich leicht vergesse and die ich leicht vergesse kann or die ich mir leicht nicht merken kann?

Yes:

die ich leicht vergesse
= “that I easily forget” (neutral and idiomatic)
die ich mir leicht nicht merken kann
= “that I easily can’t remember / can’t memorize well”
(focuses more on the difficulty of memorizing, not just the fact that you forget)
die ich leicht vergesse kann is ungrammatical; you’d need vergessen kann (infinitive) and adjust the sentence structure.

The original die ich leicht vergesse is the simplest and most natural for “the vocabulary that I easily forget.”

What are the genders and plurals of Prüfung, Lernkarte, and Vokabel, and how do they affect the forms in the sentence?

die Prüfung (feminine; plural: die Prüfungen)
→ vor der Prüfung uses der = dative singular feminine.
die Lernkarte (feminine; plural: die Lernkarten)
→ die Lernkarten is accusative plural (direct object of wiederhole).
die Vokabel (feminine; plural: die Vokabeln)
→ mit den Vokabeln uses den = dative plural.

So the forms der, die, and den in the sentence are governed by the combination of case (dative/accusative) and number (singular/plural).