Learn Hardcore German: Unsere Dozentin sagt, wir sollten uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten. - Our lecturer says we should prepare early for the exam.

Dozentin
- Common in universities and colleges.
- Roughly: lecturer or instructor.
- Can be someone who teaches but does not necessarily have a full professorship.
Professorin
- Specifically a (female) professor with that academic title/position.
Lehrerin
- General (female) teacher, especially at schools (primary/secondary).
- Less common for university staff (though people will understand it).

In a university context, Dozentin sounds natural; in a school context, Lehrerin would be more typical.

Why is there a comma after sagt, and why doesn’t the verb go to the end after it?

The comma separates the main clause from the clause that reports what she says:

Main clause: Unsere Dozentin sagt, …
Reported clause: wir sollten uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten.

In full subordination you would normally have dass and the verb at the end:

Unsere Dozentin sagt, dass wir uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten sollten.

In the original sentence, dass is omitted and the reported clause keeps main-clause word order (verb in second position: wir sollten). This is very common in spoken and informal written German.

So you have two options:

… sagt, wir sollten … (no dass, verb in 2nd position)
… sagt, dass wir … vorbereiten sollten. (with dass, verb at the end)

Both are correct; (1) is a more “direct” form of reported speech.

Why is it wir sollten and not wir sollen?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

wir sollen – present tense of sollen, often a direct instruction or reported order:
- Unsere Dozentin sagt, wir sollen uns früh vorbereiten.
  → She says we are supposed to / must prepare early.
wir sollten – can be:
1. Konjunktiv II of sollen, used to soften advice or represent indirect speech, or
2. simple past (Präteritum) of sollen (less likely here because main verb is present: sagt).

In this sentence, wir sollten is best understood as:

slightly softened recommendation:
→ “she says we should prepare early”
or indirect/report style:
→ “she says that we should (according to her) prepare early”

Using sollten makes it sound less like a strict order and more like advice or reported speech.

How do I know that sollten here isn’t just the simple past (“we were supposed to”)?

Look at the time frame given by the rest of the sentence:

Main verb is sagt (present): she says (now)
Content is about a preparation that concerns us now / in the near future.

If it were a past meaning (we were supposed to), you’d expect the main verb also in a past tense, e.g.:

Unsere Dozentin sagte, wir sollten uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten.
→ “Our lecturer said that we were supposed to prepare early for the exam.”

Because sagt is present, sollten is best read as a subjunctive/softened should, not as a true past tense here.

Why do we need uns in wir sollten uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten?

The verb sich vorbereiten (auf + Akk.) is reflexive in German:

sich vorbereiten = to prepare (oneself)

So you must use a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject:

ich → mich vorbereiten
du → dich vorbereiten
er/sie/es → sich vorbereiten
wir → uns vorbereiten ← here
ihr → euch vorbereiten
sie/Sie → sich vorbereiten

In English you usually say “prepare for the exam” without “ourselves”, but in German you need the reflexive:

Wir sollten uns auf die Klausur vorbereiten.
(lit. “We should prepare ourselves for the exam.”)

Could I change the word order and say wir sollten früh uns auf die Klausur vorbereiten or wir sollten uns auf die Klausur früh vorbereiten?

Grammatically, some alternatives are possible, but natural German strongly prefers:

Wir sollten uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten.

About the alternatives:

wir sollten früh uns auf die Klausur vorbereiten
→ sounds wrong/very unnatural. In main clauses, pronouns like uns prefer to stand as early as possible, right after the conjugated verb.
wir sollten uns auf die Klausur früh vorbereiten
→ possible, but slightly marked. It emphasizes früh more strongly, as if “early” is a contrastive focus.

Default, neutral word order is:

Subject: wir
Conjugated verb: sollten
Pronoun (reflexive): uns
Adverb of time: früh
Prepositional phrase: auf die Klausur
Infinitive: vorbereiten

Why is it auf die Klausur and not für die Klausur?

The choice is determined by the verb. Many German verbs “fix” a particular preposition:

sich vorbereiten auf + Akk. = to prepare for

So the normal, idiomatic construction is:

sich auf etwas vorbereiten (always with auf, not für)

Für often expresses purpose or “intended recipient”:

ein Geschenk für dich – a present for you
für die Klausur lernen – to study for the exam (here the verb is lernen, which can take für)

So:

sich auf die Klausur vorbereiten ✅
für die Klausur lernen ✅
sich für die Klausur vorbereiten ❌ (unidiomatic/wrong)

What case is die Klausur in, and why?

The phrase is auf die Klausur.

The noun: Klausur is feminine → die Klausur in the nominative.
The preposition: auf can take accusative or dative:
- accusative – when there is movement towards a goal
- dative – when expressing location (no movement)

With sich vorbereiten auf, we’re thinking about an aim/goal (what you are preparing for), and the construction is normally with accusative:

sich auf die Klausur vorbereiten (accusative)

So die Klausur here is feminine accusative singular.

What’s the difference between Klausur and Prüfung?

Both can be translated as exam, but:

Klausur
- Typically a written exam, often at university or higher-level school.
- Strong association with timed, supervised written tests.
Prüfung
- More general word for test/exam, written or oral, in many contexts (school, driving test, language exam, etc.).

You could say:

… auf die Prüfung vorbereiten.
This is correct and a bit more general.

But Klausur sounds very natural in a university context for a specific written exam in a course.

Why is früh used here instead of bald?

früh = early (relative to some point in time or schedule)
bald = soon

Uns früh vorbereiten means: start the preparation at an early stage, not at the last minute.

If you said:

Wir sollten uns bald auf die Klausur vorbereiten.
→ “We should prepare for the exam soon.”

That focuses more on the idea that preparation should start in the near future, but doesn’t explicitly stress the idea of early enough versus late. The original früh implies: don’t wait too long; start well in advance.

Could you rephrase the sentence in a more “textbook” / fully subordinated way?

Yes. A more explicitly subordinated version with dass and verb-final order would be:

Unsere Dozentin sagt, dass wir uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten sollen.

Differences:

Uses dass → clear subordinate clause.
Uses sollen instead of sollten → more direct statement of what she says we are supposed to do.

Both the original and this version are correct; the original is a bit more like common spoken German (dropping dass, using sollten for a softer/indirect feel).

Is the capitalization in Unsere Dozentin and Klausur important?

Yes. In German:

All nouns are capitalized.

So:

Dozentin – noun → capitalized
Klausur – noun → capitalized

Possessive determiners and adjectives are not capitalized in the middle of the sentence:

unsere Dozentin (unless at the beginning, where Unsere is capitalized because it’s the first word)

Incorrect would be:

unsere dozentin sagt, wir sollten uns früh auf die klausur vorbereiten. ❌

Correct:

Unsere Dozentin sagt, wir sollten uns früh auf die Klausur vorbereiten. ✅