Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer.

We eat together in the living room.

Breakdown of Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer.

• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• essen: to eat
• wir: we
• zusammen: together
• das Wohnzimmer: the living room
• in: at

Questions & Answers about Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer.

Why does German use wir essen here when the English meaning is “We are eating …”? Shouldn’t there be something like “wir sind am Essen”?

German only has one present tense form, and wir essen can mean both:

• We eat (general habit)
• We are eating (right now)

Context decides which is meant.
You can say things like wir sind am Essen or wir essen gerade, but those are extra ways to stress that it’s happening right now. The basic, most common form is simply wir essen.

Why is Wir capitalized here? I’ve also seen wir in lowercase.

Wir is capitalized here only because it’s the first word of the sentence.

Pronouns in German (ich, du, wir, etc.) are normally written in lowercase, except:

• At the beginning of a sentence: Wir essen zusammen …
• The formal Sie / Ihr (you) is always capitalized.

So inside a sentence you’d write:
Morgen essen wir zusammen im Wohnzimmer.

What exactly does zusammen mean, and is its position in the sentence fixed?

Zusammen means together (doing something jointly).

Its position is not completely fixed, but some positions are more natural:

• Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer. (neutral, very common)
• Wir essen im Wohnzimmer zusammen. (also okay, slightly different rhythm)
• Zusammen essen wir im Wohnzimmer. (puts emphasis on together)

You normally don’t put it between subject and verb like this:
✖ Wir zusammen essen im Wohnzimmer. (sounds wrong in standard German)

What does im mean exactly? How is it different from just in?

Im is a contraction (shortened form) of:

in + dem → im

• in = in
• dem = the (dative, masculine or neuter singular)

So:

• in dem Wohnzimmer = in the living room
• im Wohnzimmer = in the living room (more natural in everyday speech)

In normal spoken and written German, im is used much more often than the full in dem in sentences like this.

Why is it im Wohnzimmer (dative) and not ins Wohnzimmer (accusative)?

In German, many prepositions (including in) can take dative or accusative, depending on meaning:

• Dative: location, where something is → state
• Accusative: direction, where to something is going → movement

In the sentence:

• Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer.
  → We are in the living room, just located there → dative (im = in dem)

Compare:

• Wir gehen ins Wohnzimmer. (We are going into the living room.)
  → Movement into the room → accusative (ins = in das)

What gender is Wohnzimmer, and why is the article hidden in im?

Wohnzimmer is neuter:

• das Wohnzimmer = the living room

In the dative singular, das becomes dem:

• in dem Wohnzimmer (in the living room)

As explained before, in dem contracts to im, so the article is still there, just hidden:

• im Wohnzimmer = in + dem Wohnzimmer

Why is Wohnzimmer written as one word? What does it literally mean?

German loves compound nouns, where two or more words are joined into one:

• wohnen = to live, to reside
• das Zimmer = the room

From this, you get:

• das Wohnzimmer = literally “living room” (room where you live / spend time)

It’s always written as one word:
✔ Wohnzimmer
✖ Wohn Zimmer or Wohn Zimmer

Could essen here be a noun (like das Essen) instead of a verb?

In this sentence, essen is definitely a verb:

• wir = subject
• essen = finite verb (conjugated for wir)

As a noun, it would be das Essen and would be capitalized:

• Wir haben das Essen im Wohnzimmer.
  (We have the food / meal in the living room.)

So:

• Wir essen … = We eat / are eating … (verb)
• das Essen = the food / the meal (noun)

Can I say Wir essen gemeinsam im Wohnzimmer instead of zusammen? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can. Both are correct:

• zusammen = together (very common, neutral, everyday word)
• gemeinsam = together, jointly (a bit more “formal” or slightly more literary in tone)

So:

• Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer. (most typical choice)
• Wir essen gemeinsam im Wohnzimmer. (perfectly fine, slightly more elegant)

In everyday conversation, zusammen is more frequent, but gemeinsam is by no means unusual.

How would I say “We are eating together in the living room now” in German, if I want to stress “now”?

A very natural way is:

• Wir essen jetzt zusammen im Wohnzimmer.

Here:

• jetzt = now
• word order is: subject – verb – time – manner – place
  → Wir – essen – jetzt – zusammen – im Wohnzimmer

Other acceptable variants:

• Jetzt essen wir zusammen im Wohnzimmer. (emphasis on now)
• Wir essen zusammen jetzt im Wohnzimmer. (possible, but less typical)

Is Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer talking about a habit (like every day) or something happening right now?

By itself, Wir essen zusammen im Wohnzimmer. can mean either:

1. A habit:

   • We eat together in the living room (e.g., every evening).

2. Something happening now:

   • We are eating together in the living room (right at this moment).

German present tense covers both uses.
If you want to make it clearly habitual, you can add a time expression:

• Wir essen jeden Abend zusammen im Wohnzimmer.
  (We eat together in the living room every evening.)

If you want to make it clearly “right now”:

• Wir essen gerade zusammen im Wohnzimmer.
  (We are eating together in the living room right now.)