Im Urlaub wollen wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.

On vacation we want to experience something nice every day.

Breakdown of Im Urlaub wollen wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.

• wir: we
• im: in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• etwas: something
• der Urlaub: the vacation
• jeden Tag: every day
• schön: nice
• wollen: to want to
• erleben: to experience

Questions & Answers about Im Urlaub wollen wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.

Why is it Im Urlaub and not In dem Urlaub or something with Ferien?

Im is a contraction of in dem.

• in + dem = im

So Im Urlaub literally means in the vacation, but idiomatically it’s on vacation / during our holiday.

About the different options:

• Im Urlaub – very normal, general: “when (we are) on vacation”.
• In dem Urlaub – grammatically fine, but sounds more specific, like a particular vacation you’ve already mentioned:
  
  • In dem Urlaub in Spanien haben wir viel erlebt. – On that vacation in Spain we experienced a lot.
• Ferien – this is mostly for school/university holidays and is plural:
  
  • in den Ferien (not im Ferien) – during the (school) holidays.

So the sentence chooses Im Urlaub because it means “while we are on vacation (in general)” and uses the normal contraction im for in dem.

What case is Urlaub in after im, and why?

Urlaub is in the dative case.

• in is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition).
• With these prepositions:
  • Dative = location/state/time (where? when?)
  • Accusative = movement/direction (where to?)

Here, im Urlaub describes a time period or state: during our vacation / while on vacation (no movement). So we use dative: in dem Urlaub → im Urlaub.

Compare:

• Im Urlaub sind wir entspannt. – dative (state: where/when are we relaxed?)
• Wir fahren in den Urlaub. – accusative (movement: where are we going?).

Why does the sentence start with Im Urlaub and not with Wir?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position (second element), but any one element can come first.

Both are correct:

• Im Urlaub wollen wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.
• Wir wollen im Urlaub jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.

Difference:

• Im Urlaub wollen wir … – puts Im Urlaub in the first position, so the sentence emphasizes the time frame “on vacation”. It answers: “What do we want to do on vacation?”
• Wir wollen im Urlaub … – neutral emphasis on wir (we).

Grammatically, the structure is:

1. Im Urlaub (1st element)
2. wollen (finite verb in 2nd position)
3. wir (subject)
4. the rest of the information.

What exactly does wollen express here, and how is it different from möchten?

wollen is a modal verb meaning to want (to), expressing a real intention or strong wish.

In this sentence:

• wir wollen … erleben ≈ we want to experience … / we intend to experience …

Nuances:

• wollen – stronger, more direct:
  
  • Wir wollen jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.
    → We really plan/intend to do something nice every day.
• möchten – more polite, softer, more hypothetical, literally “would like”:
  
  • Wir möchten jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.
    → We would like to experience something nice every day (sounds a bit less like a firm plan).

Both are grammatically possible; wollen sounds like a clear plan or resolution for the vacation.

Why is wollen in the middle and erleben at the very end?

Because wollen is a modal verb and erleben is the main verb (infinitive).

Rules:

• In a main clause with a modal verb:
  • The conjugated modal (wollen) goes in second position (V2 rule).
  • The main verb infinitive (erleben) goes at the end of the clause.

Structure of the sentence:

1. Im Urlaub – first element
2. wollen – conjugated modal, position 2
3. wir – subject
4. jeden Tag etwas Schönes – objects/adverbials
5. erleben – infinitive at the end

So the word order is exactly what German requires for modal + infinitive in a main clause.

Why is it jeden Tag and not jeder Tag or jedem Tag?

Because Tag is in the accusative case, and jeden is the accusative masculine singular form of jeder.

Patterns for jeder with a masculine noun (like Tag):

• Nominative: jeder Tag – every day (as subject)
• Accusative: jeden Tag – every day (as time expression)
• Dative: jedem Tag
• Genitive: jedes Tages (rare in everyday speech)

In Im Urlaub wollen wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben:

• jeden Tag is a time expression without a preposition (answers “how often / on which days?”).
• German usually puts bare time expressions like this in the accusative.

So jeden Tag (accusative) is the correct form for “every day” here.

What gender is Tag, and how does that influence jeden?

Tag is masculine: der Tag.

Because it’s masculine, the form of jeder must match masculine endings:

• Nominative: jeder Tag
• Accusative: jeden Tag
• Dative: jedem Tag
• Genitive: jedes Tages

In the sentence, Tag is in the accusative (time expression), so we get jeden Tag.

If it were feminine or neuter, it would look different:

• Feminine: jeden Abend? – no, because Abend is masculine; but with Woche (die Woche):
  
  • jede Woche (nom./acc.)
• Neuter: jedes Jahr (nom./acc.).

Why is Schönes capitalized, and why does it end in -es after etwas?

etwas Schönes literally means “something beautiful / something nice”.

Two points:

1. Capitalization

   • Schönes here is an adjective used as a noun (a substantiviertes Adjektiv).
   • When an adjective stands alone and functions as a noun (“the nice/beautiful thing”), German capitalizes it.
   • So Schönes is written with a capital S.

2. The ending -es

   • etwas is an indefinite pronoun meaning something.
   • When you say etwas + adjective (as a noun), the adjective behaves like a neuter singular noun after an indefinite pronoun, and it usually takes -es:
     • etwas Schönes – something nice
     • etwas Gutes – something good
     • etwas Interessantes – something interesting

So etwas Schönes is:

• etwas (something) + Schönes (a “beautiful/nice” thing, neuter, capitalized).

Could I say just etwas schön erleben instead of etwas Schönes erleben?

No, etwas schön erleben is not correct here.

• etwas Schönes erleben means to experience something nice (some nice event or activity).
  • etwas = “something” (object)
  • Schönes = “nice (thing)” as a noun

If you said etwas schön erleben, it would sound like you’re describing how you experience something (in a nice way), not what you experience. You would normally need a direct object there:

• etwas schön erleben – “to experience something in a beautiful/nice way” (odd, and still incomplete)

The natural way to say “experience something nice” is etwas Schönes erleben.

Why is erleben used and not machen or unternehmen?

All are possible verbs in vacation contexts, but they have different nuances:

• erleben – to experience, to live through something, often with an emotional or memorable aspect.
  
  • etwas Schönes erleben – experience something nice (focus on the experience itself).
• machen – to do / to make, very general.
  
  • jeden Tag etwas Schönes machen – do something nice every day (more neutral, about the activity).
• unternehmen – to undertake / to do (as an activity/excursion).
  
  • jeden Tag etwas Schönes unternehmen – do/undertake a nice activity every day (focus on planned activities or outings).

erleben fits very well with Urlaub, because we often talk about schöne Erlebnisse (nice experiences) on holiday. It sounds like you want memorable, positive experiences each day.

Is erleben a separable verb? Why doesn’t it split?

erleben is not a separable verb.

• It has the prefix er-, which is inseparable.
• Inseparable prefixes (like be-, er-, ver-, zer-, ge-) never split off and never get stressed.

So:

• Infinitive: erleben
• Present: ich erlebe, du erlebst, er erlebt, wir erleben, …
• Perfect: ich habe viel erlebt (past participle erlebt, no ge- in front)

In the sentence, erleben simply stays together and goes to the end as the infinitive:
… etwas Schönes erleben.

Why is the present tense wollen … erleben used for a future meaning (“on vacation we will want to experience…”)? Shouldn’t it be a future tense?

German very often uses the present tense to talk about the future, especially when a time expression makes the future meaning clear.

In this sentence, Im Urlaub clearly refers to a future time (a vacation that hasn’t started yet), so present tense is enough:

• Im Urlaub wollen wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben.
  → On vacation, we want to experience something nice every day. (future meaning from context)

You could theoretically use werden, but it’s usually unnecessary or sounds heavy here:

• Im Urlaub werden wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben. – sounds like a prediction, almost like a promise.
• Im Urlaub werden wir jeden Tag etwas Schönes erleben wollen. – grammatically possible but awkward and overly complex.

Normal, idiomatic German prefers the present tense with a time expression, just like English often does (“Tomorrow we go…”, “Next week we’re visiting…”).