Learn Hardcore German: Nach dem ersten Training hatte sie starken Muskelkater in den Beinen. - After the first training session she had bad sore muscles in her legs.

Nach dem ersten Training hatte sie starken Muskelkater in den Beinen.

After the first training session she had bad sore muscles in her legs.

Breakdown of Nach dem ersten Training hatte sie starken Muskelkater in den Beinen.

dem

the; (masculine or neuter, dative)

the; (plural, dative)

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Questions & Answers about Nach dem ersten Training hatte sie starken Muskelkater in den Beinen.

Why is it Nach dem ersten Training and not Nach das erste Training?

In German, the preposition nach always takes the dative case when it means after (in time) or to (a place):

nach dem Training – after the training
nach der Schule – after school
nach dem Essen – after the meal

Because nach requires dative, das Training (nominative) becomes dem Training (dative). The whole phrase has to be dative, so you get:

nach + dem (dat. sg.) + ersten (dat. sg.) + Training (dat. sg.)

Using nach das erste Training would put Training in the accusative, which is ungrammatical after nach in this time sense.

What exactly is going on grammatically in dem ersten Training?

Breakdown:

Training is a neuter noun: das Training
Dative singular of the article: dem (for masculine and neuter)
Adjective erste- follows a definite article in the dative

With definite articles, adjectives take weak endings. For dative singular neuter that ending is -en:

nominative: das erste Training
accusative: das erste Training
dative: dem ersten Training
genitive: des ersten Trainings

So dem ersten Training is dative singular neuter, required by nach.

Why is it hatte and not hat or hatte … gehabt?

hatte is the simple past (Präteritum) of haben.
- Sie hatte starken Muskelkater = She had bad muscle soreness.

In modern German:

In spoken German, especially in southern/central regions, people often prefer the present perfect (Perfekt):
- Nach dem ersten Training hat sie starken Muskelkater in den Beinen gehabt.
In written German and in much of northern Germany, the simple past for verbs like haben, sein, and modals is very common and often preferred:
- Nach dem ersten Training hatte sie …

Hatte … gehabt is past perfect (Plusquamperfekt) and would mean she had had muscle soreness before some other past event. That’s not needed here; there’s only one reference point in the past, so hatte is the normal choice.

Why is it starken Muskelkater and not starke Muskelkater or something else?

Muskelkater is:

masculine noun: der Muskelkater
here it’s the direct object of hatte → accusative case

So we have:

article: (no article)
adjective: stark-
noun: Muskelkater (masc. acc. sg.)

With no article, adjectives take strong endings. For masculine accusative singular, the strong ending is -en:

starker Muskelkater – nominative (as subject)
starken Muskelkater – accusative (as object)

Examples:

Der starke Muskelkater nervt sie. – The bad muscle soreness annoys her. (nominative)
Sie hat starken Muskelkater. – She has bad muscle soreness. (accusative)

So starken Muskelkater is the correct accusative form.

Why is there no article before Muskelkater? Why not einen starken Muskelkater?

Both are possible, but without an article is very common and sounds natural:

Sie hat Muskelkater.
Sie hat starken Muskelkater.

Certain nouns that describe physical states or sensations are often used without an article in German, especially in everyday speech:

Ich habe Hunger. – I’m hungry.
Ich habe Durst. – I’m thirsty.
Ich habe Kopfschmerzen. – I have a headache / headaches.
Ich habe Muskelkater. – I’m sore / I have muscle soreness.

You can say:

Sie hat einen starken Muskelkater.

That’s not wrong; it just feels a bit more specific or emphatic, like emphasizing a particular strong case of soreness. The version without the article is more neutral and idiomatic.

What does Muskelkater really mean, and how is it used?

Muskelkater literally combines:

Muskel – muscle
Kater – most commonly “tomcat”, but also slang for hangover

Historically Kater here actually comes from Katarrh (inflammation), not the animal, but for modern speakers the word feels a bit like “muscle hangover”.

Functionally, Muskelkater means what English calls:

muscle soreness, DOMS, aches in the muscles after exercise

Typical patterns:

Ich habe Muskelkater. – I have sore muscles.
Ich habe Muskelkater in den Beinen / Armen / Schultern.
Vom Training gestern habe ich totalen Muskelkater.

It’s a countable noun, but very often used without any article in the singular.

Why is it in den Beinen and not in die Beine?

The preposition in is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition). It can take:

accusative for movement into something (direction)
dative for position in/at something (location, state)

Here we’re talking about where the muscle soreness is (a state, no movement), so we use dative:

in den Beinen – in the legs (dative plural)

Compare:

Ich gehe in die Schule. – I’m going into the school. (accusative, movement)
Ich bin in der Schule. – I’m in the school. (dative, location)

So here:

Bein – leg
plural nominative/accusative: die Beine
plural dative: den Beinen

Hence in den Beinen is dative plural, correctly marking a location.

Why do we say Beinen instead of Beine?

This is a dative plural form.

Declension of das Bein:

nominative plural: die Beine
accusative plural: die Beine
dative plural: den Beinen

In German, most nouns in the dative plural add an extra -n if possible:

die Kinder → den Kindern
die Freunde → den Freunden
die Beine → den Beinen

So:

in den Beinen – in the legs (dative plural, location)
für die Beine – for the legs (accusative plural, direction/target)

Is the word order Nach dem ersten Training hatte sie … special? Why is the verb not in first place?

German main clauses obey the verb-second rule: the finite verb (here hatte) must be in second position — but “position” means second element, not second word.

In this sentence:

Nach dem ersten Training = first element (a whole time phrase)
hatte = verbal element in second position
sie = subject
rest of the sentence …

You could rephrase it as:

Sie hatte nach dem ersten Training starken Muskelkater in den Beinen.

Here, sie is the first element, hatte is again second. Both word orders are correct; putting Nach dem ersten Training first just emphasizes the time.

Can I move Nach dem ersten Training to the end or use a different phrasing, and does the meaning change?

You can move the time phrase; the core meaning stays the same, but the focus changes.

All of these are grammatical:

Nach dem ersten Training hatte sie starken Muskelkater in den Beinen.
– Neutral, but slightly emphasizing when it happened.
Sie hatte nach dem ersten Training starken Muskelkater in den Beinen.
– More neutral, subject-first, common in spoken German.
Sie hatte starken Muskelkater in den Beinen nach dem ersten Training.
– Still okay, but Nach dem ersten Training feels a bit tacked on at the end; less elegant in writing.

You can also rephrase more heavily:

Nachdem sie zum ersten Mal trainiert hatte, hatte sie starken Muskelkater in den Beinen.

Here nachdem is a conjunction introducing a whole clause; this sounds a bit more complex and formal but the basic time relationship is the same.