Learn Hardcore German: Morgens mache ich Yoga im Wohnzimmer. - In the morning I do yoga in the living room.

morgens (normally written lowercase) is an adverb meaning “in the mornings / every morning / in the morning as a routine.” It implies regularity or a habit.
- Morgens mache ich Yoga. = In the mornings, I (usually) do yoga.
am Morgen literally means “on the morning” and usually refers to one specific morning or to a more specific time:
- Am Morgen mache ich Yoga. can mean I (will) do yoga in the morning (as opposed to later).

So morgens is about a general, repeated time of day, while am Morgen is more about a particular morning or time frame.

In your sentence, the idea is “as a daily/regular routine,” so morgens fits better.

Why is Morgens capitalized here? Isn’t it usually morgens?

You’re right: as an adverb meaning “in the mornings,” it’s normally morgens (lowercase).

However, in German the first word of every sentence is capitalized, no matter what part of speech it is. In your sentence, Morgens happens to be the first word, so it gets a capital M.

In the middle of a sentence:
- Ich mache morgens Yoga.
At the beginning:
- Morgens mache ich Yoga.

Same word, same function (adverb), just capitalized because it’s sentence‑initial.

Could I also say Ich mache morgens Yoga im Wohnzimmer? Is that the same?

Yes, that’s also correct and means almost the same thing:

Morgens mache ich Yoga im Wohnzimmer.
Ich mache morgens Yoga im Wohnzimmer.

German main clauses follow the verb‑second rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position. You can put morgens first (to highlight the time) or ich first (to keep the subject first), but in both cases mache stays in second position.

The difference is mainly in emphasis:

Morgens mache ich Yoga… → emphasizes when you do yoga (your morning routine).
Ich mache morgens Yoga… → neutral, slightly more focus on “I”, then giving the time.

Both are natural and grammatical.

Why is it mache ich Yoga and not something with tun, like ich tue Yoga?

In German, you don’t use tun for activities like sports, hobbies, or exercises. You typically use machen with the noun:

Yoga machen – to do yoga
Sport machen – to do sports
Hausaufgaben machen – to do homework

Tun is used less often and in different contexts, for example:

Was tust du da? – What are you doing there?
Das tut mir leid. – I’m sorry (lit. that does pain to me).

So Ich mache Yoga is the natural collocation, while Ich tue Yoga sounds wrong to native speakers.

Why is there no article in front of Yoga? Why not Ich mache das Yoga?

For many activities, especially sports, games, and some hobbies, German often omits the article when they’re used in the sense of “doing that activity”:

Ich mache Yoga. – I do yoga.
Ich spiele Fußball. – I play football/soccer.
Ich mache Karate. – I do karate.

There is a noun das Yoga (especially in more technical or specific contexts), but in everyday speech, when you mean the activity, you almost always say Yoga machen with no article.

Ich mache das Yoga would sound unnatural in standard German in this context.

What does im in im Wohnzimmer stand for?

im is a contraction of in dem:

in (in) + dem (the – dative, masculine or neuter) → im

Wohnzimmer is neuter: das Wohnzimmer (the living room).
In the dative singular, das becomes dem:

in dem Wohnzimmer → im Wohnzimmer

So im Wohnzimmer literally means “in the (living) room” and uses dative because it describes a location, not movement.

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

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:

Dative → location (where?)
- Ich mache Yoga im Wohnzimmer.
  (Where do I do yoga? In the living room.) → dative
Accusative → movement / direction (where to?)
- Ich gehe ins Wohnzimmer.
  (in das Wohnzimmer → ins; Where to am I going? Into the living room) → accusative

In your sentence, you’re describing where you are doing yoga (static location), so dative is correct → im Wohnzimmer.

Why is Wohnzimmer one word? Can’t I say something like Wohn Zimmer?

In German, it’s very common to create compound nouns by putting words together:

wohnen (to live) + das Zimmer (room) → das Wohnzimmer (living room)

As a compound noun, it’s written as one word and always capitalized.
Wohn Zimmer would be incorrect spelling; it needs to be Wohnzimmer.

Why is the verb in second position: Morgens mache ich Yoga…? Couldn’t it be third?

In German main clauses, the conjugated verb must be in second position (the V2 rule).

“Second position” means after the first element, which can be:

the subject,
a time expression,
a place expression,
or another phrase.

In your sentence:

Morgens = first element
mache = verb (must be second)
ich = subject
Yoga im Wohnzimmer = rest

If you tried to put the verb third, e.g. Morgens ich mache Yoga…, that would be wrong in standard German.

Is Morgens mache ich Yoga im Wohnzimmer present tense, even though it’s about a routine?

Yes, it’s in the present tense (Präsens): mache is the present tense of machen.

German present tense is used for:

things happening right now
general truths
and very often for habits and routines, just like in English:
Ich mache morgens Yoga. – I do yoga in the mornings.
Ich fahre jeden Tag mit dem Bus. – I take the bus every day.

So the single present-tense form mache naturally covers the idea of a regular habit here.

Could I move im Wohnzimmer earlier and say Morgens mache ich im Wohnzimmer Yoga?

Yes, that’s perfectly grammatical:

Morgens mache ich Yoga im Wohnzimmer.
Morgens mache ich im Wohnzimmer Yoga.

Both are correct. German word order inside the “middle field” (between the verb and the sentence-final elements) is fairly flexible. The typical preference is:

Time – Manner – Place (often remembered as TMP)

In your original sentence:

Morgens = time (fronted)
im Wohnzimmer = place (at the end)

Morgens mache ich im Wohnzimmer Yoga puts a little more focus on im Wohnzimmer, but both versions are natural.

What exactly does morgens imply? Is it “every single morning” or just “usually in the morning”?

morgens generally means “in the morning(s)” as a regular or typical thing. It often implies habit, but not necessarily absolute strictness.

It’s similar to saying “in the mornings” or “usually in the morning” in English.
It does not specify how many mornings or how strictly – it’s just your normal pattern.

If you want to stress every single morning without exception, you’d usually say:

Jeden Morgen mache ich Yoga im Wohnzimmer. – Every morning I do yoga…