Breakdown of Die Bloggerin schreibt abends im Garten einen neuen Artikel.
Questions & Answers about Die Bloggerin schreibt abends im Garten einen neuen Artikel.
German marks grammatical gender very clearly:
- Bloggerin is the feminine form of Blogger.
- Blogger = blogger (male or generic)
- Bloggerin = female blogger (specifically female)
- Because Bloggerin is feminine and is the subject of the sentence, it takes the nominative feminine singular article die.
So Die Bloggerin means “the (female) blogger” in the nominative case as the subject.
In German:
- All nouns are capitalized.
- die Bloggerin, der Garten, der Artikel → all nouns → capitalized.
- abends is an adverb, not a noun, so it is not capitalized.
- It answers the question “When?” (When does she write? → abends.)
So capitalization here is a simple noun-vs.-non-noun distinction.
schreiben is the infinitive “to write.”
German verbs are conjugated depending on the subject:
- ich schreibe – I write / am writing
- du schreibst – you (singular, informal) write
- er/sie/es schreibt – he/she/it writes
- wir schreiben – we write
- ihr schreibt – you (plural, informal) write
- sie/Sie schreiben – they / you (formal) write
The subject here is die Bloggerin → 3rd person singular feminine → sie schreibt.
So the correct form is schreibt.
German normally uses the simple present tense for both:
- English “writes” and
- English “is writing.”
So sie schreibt can mean:
- “she writes” (habitually, regularly)
- or “she is writing” (right now)
German does not usually form a separate -ing tense like English. You almost always just use the simple present (schreibt) and let context show whether it’s ongoing or habitual.
Both relate to the evening, but there’s a nuance:
- abends
- An adverb meaning “in the evenings / in the evening (generally, regularly)”
- Suggests a habit: She generally writes in the evenings.
- am Abend
- Literally “on the evening” → “in the evening” (more like a specific evening or a specific time frame)
- Am Abend schreibt die Bloggerin im Garten einen neuen Artikel could sound more like you’re talking about that evening (depending on context).
The -s ending in abends is common in German time adverbs indicating regular, repeated times:
morgens (in the mornings), mittags (at noon(s)), abends (in the evenings).
im is a contraction:
- im = in + dem
Breakdown:
- Noun: der Garten (masculine)
- Dative singular masculine: dem Garten
- Preposition: in can take dative (location) or accusative (direction).
Here it’s location (in the garden), so:
- in dem Garten → normally contracted to im Garten
You cannot say in Garten; you need an article: in dem Garten → im Garten.
The choice between Dative and Accusative after in depends on meaning:
- Dative → location / where something is
- im Garten = in dem Garten → in the garden (staying there)
- Accusative → direction / movement into
- in den Garten → into the garden
In the sentence, the blogger is located in the garden while writing, not moving into the garden.
So we use im Garten (dative), not in den Garten (accusative).
Because einen neuen Artikel is the direct object of the verb schreibt:
- Verb: schreiben (to write)
→ What does she write? → einen neuen Artikel
→ Direct object = Accusative case
The noun Artikel is:
- masculine: der Artikel
Masculine accusative with an indefinite article:
- Nominative: ein Artikel (subject) – e.g. Ein Artikel ist lang.
- Accusative: einen Artikel (object) – e.g. Sie schreibt einen Artikel.
So here we need accusative masculine → einen Artikel, and with neuen it becomes einen neuen Artikel.
Adjective endings in German depend on:
- Gender of the noun (Artikel → masculine)
- Case (here: accusative)
- Presence and type of article (here: indefinite article ein-)
Pattern for masculine singular with an indefinite article:
- Nominative: ein neuer Artikel (subject)
- Accusative: einen neuen Artikel (object)
So in the accusative masculine with ein, the adjective takes -en:
- einen neuen Artikel
You can remember: with einen (masc. acc.), the adjective after it almost always ends in -en.
Unfortunately, German noun gender is mostly arbitrary and has to be learned:
- Dictionary entries usually show nouns like this: der Artikel, -
- der tells you it is masculine.
- There are some patterns (e.g. many nouns ending in -er, -en, -el are often masculine), but they are not reliable enough to guess every time.
So, for Artikel, you just need to memorize: der Artikel (masculine).
That’s why we get im Garten (der Garten) and einen neuen Artikel (der Artikel).
German word order is more flexible than English, but there are common patterns. A helpful rule (for main clauses) is:
Subject – Verb – (Time) – (Place) – (Object)
In this sentence:
- Subject: Die Bloggerin
- Verb: schreibt
- Time: abends
- Place: im Garten
- Object: einen neuen Artikel
So: Die Bloggerin schreibt abends im Garten einen neuen Artikel.
Other orders are possible, for example:
- Die Bloggerin schreibt im Garten abends einen neuen Artikel.
- Die Bloggerin schreibt einen neuen Artikel abends im Garten.
These are grammatically correct but may sound a bit less neutral or emphasize different parts. The given sentence follows a very natural, standard order: time → place → object.
German main clauses follow the verb-second rule (V2):
- The finite verb (here: schreibt) must be in second position in the clause.
- “Second” means after the first element, which can be a word or a group of words.
In your sentence:
- 1st position: Die Bloggerin
- 2nd position: schreibt
You can also start with another element, but the verb still stays second:
- Abends schreibt die Bloggerin im Garten einen neuen Artikel.
- Im Garten schreibt die Bloggerin abends einen neuen Artikel.
In all of these, schreibt is always the second element, even if that element is not the subject.