Learn Hardcore German: Ich bin heute sehr müde.

So the literal structure is: I am today very tired.
In English we would say I am very tired today, but the German word order is a bit different (and more flexible).

Why is it bin and not something else for am?

Bin is the 1st person singular form of the verb sein (to be) in the present tense:

ich bin = I am
du bist = you are (informal singular)
er/sie/es ist = he/she/it is
wir sind = we are
ihr seid = you are (informal plural)
sie/Sie sind = they are / you are (formal)

So whenever you say I am … in German in the present tense, you use ich bin.

Why is the word order Ich bin heute sehr müde and not Ich bin sehr müde heute?

Both Ich bin heute sehr müde and Ich bin sehr müde heute are grammatically correct.

Typical preferences:

Ich bin heute sehr müde.
- Neutral, very common.
- Follows the usual German guideline time–manner–place: time adverbials (here: heute) tend to come early.
Ich bin sehr müde heute.
- Also possible but sounds slightly more colloquial or emphatic on sehr müde.
- You’re kind of saying: I’m very tired — today, that is.

You can also say:

Heute bin ich sehr müde.
- This puts emphasis on heute (“Today I am very tired.”), for example contrasting with other days.

Main rule to remember: in a normal main clause, the finite verb (bin) must be in second position. The positions before and after that are quite flexible.

Why is there no word like the or a before heute?

Because heute is an adverb, not a noun.

heute = today (adverb of time, like now, soon, yesterday)
Adverbs in German do not take articles (der, die, das, ein, etc.).

So you just say:

heute = today
gestern = yesterday
morgen = tomorrow

No article is needed or possible: you cannot say am heute or der heute to mean today.

Why is müde written with -e at the end, and does it ever change?

In Ich bin heute sehr müde, müde is an adjective used as a predicative complement (after sein).

In this position:

Predicate adjectives normally appear in their basic form, without extra endings:
- Ich bin müde.
- Sie ist krank.
- Wir sind glücklich.

The -e in müde is part of its basic dictionary form; it’s not an added ending here. Some adjectives naturally end in -e (müde, teuer, dunkel, etc.), some don’t (müde just happens to).

Adjective endings change when the adjective comes before a noun:

ein müder Mann = a tired man
eine müde Frau = a tired woman
müde Kinder = tired children

So:

After sein → Ich bin müde. (no extra ending)
Before a noun → ein müder Mann, die müde Katze, etc.

How do I pronounce Ich bin heute sehr müde correctly?

Key points:

Ich:
- The ch is a soft sound, not like English k.
- It’s the ich‑Laut: put your tongue high in your mouth, close to the roof, and blow air; similar to the h in hue, but more fricative.
bin:
- Like English bin, short i.
heute:
- heu sounds like English hoy, but with rounded lips (a diphthong [ɔʏ]).
- te sounds like tuh with a very small, unstressed e at the end.
sehr:
- Like zair in English spelling.
- Initial s before a vowel is pronounced like z in zoo.
- Final r is often very weak in many accents, almost like a long vowel zeeh.
müde:
- mü has the German ü: round your lips like oo in food, but try to say ee at the same time.
- Final -de is də, the e is short and unstressed.

Approximate English-style transcription:
[ɪç bɪn ˈhɔʏtə zeːɐ̯ ˈmyːdə]

Why is ich not capitalized in the middle of the sentence in German, even though I is in English?

German capitalization works differently:

Ich (I) is only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence, like any first word:
- Ich bin heute sehr müde.
In the middle of a sentence, ich is written with a lowercase i:
- Heute bin ich sehr müde.

On the other hand, German capitalizes all nouns, which English does not:

der Mann, die Frau, das Kind, das Auto

In Ich bin heute sehr müde., there are no nouns at all, so only the first word Ich is capitalized because it starts the sentence.

Why is müde not capitalized? Isn’t it kind of like a thing or state?

In German:

Adjectives are written with a lowercase letter.
Nouns are capitalized.

müde is an adjective (describing a quality or state), not a noun. So it remains lowercase:

Ich bin müde. = I am tired.

Compare with the noun form:

die Müdigkeit = tiredness, fatigue (noun, so capitalized)

So:

adjective → müde (lowercase)
noun → die Müdigkeit (uppercase)

Where does sehr go, and how is it different from zu or so?

sehr is an adverb meaning very. It normally comes directly before the adjective or adverb it modifies:

sehr müde = very tired
sehr schnell = very fast

So in the sentence:

Ich bin heute sehr müde.
- sehr modifies müde.

Differences:

sehr müde = very tired (just a high degree)
zu müde = too tired (so tired that something is not possible)
- Ich bin zu müde, um zu arbeiten. = I am too tired to work.
so müde = so tired
- Often used with dass/dass ich …:
- Ich bin so müde, dass ich sofort einschlafen könnte. = I am so tired that I could fall asleep immediately.

How would I say I’m not very tired today? Where does nicht go?

You would say:

Ich bin heute nicht sehr müde.

Word order and meaning:

Ich bin heute = I am today
nicht sehr müde = not very tired

Here nicht comes before the phrase it negates (sehr müde).

If you wanted to negate the whole predicate simply as not tired today, you could also say:

Ich bin heute nicht müde. = I am not tired today.

General idea: in simple sentences, nicht usually comes after the verb and before the part you want to negate.

What is the difference between müde and schläfrig? Both seem to mean “tired”.

Both relate to tiredness, but they are used slightly differently:

müde
- Very common, general tired, exhausted, low energy.
- Can be physical or mental tiredness:
  - Nach der Arbeit bin ich immer müde.
schläfrig
- More like sleepy, drowsy (ready to fall asleep).
- Often used for someone who can’t keep their eyes open:
  - Das Kind ist schläfrig. = The child is sleepy.

In most contexts where you’d say I’m tired, you use müde:

Ich bin heute sehr müde. = I’m very tired today.

If you specifically mean sleepy, you can say:

Ich bin heute sehr schläfrig.

Could I say Ich fühle mich heute sehr müde instead? Is that different?

Yes, Ich fühle mich heute sehr müde is correct and means I feel very tired today.

Differences in nuance:

Ich bin heute sehr müde.
- Simple statement of your state: I am very tired today.
- Most common, neutral.
Ich fühle mich heute sehr müde.
- Slightly more explicit about subjective feeling: I feel very tired today.
- Sometimes used to emphasize how you experience it, but in everyday speech, many speakers would still just say Ich bin müde.

Grammatically:

fühle is from fühlen (to feel).
mich is the reflexive pronoun (myself).
müde is still a predicate adjective.

Is the German present tense in Ich bin heute sehr müde like English “I am tired” or “I’m being tired”?

German has only one present tense, and it covers both:

Ich bin heute sehr müde.
- I am very tired today.
- (There is no separate “I am being tired” form in German; you would not say that in English either.)

For most verbs, German present tense can correspond to both:

Ich arbeite heute.
- I work today.
- I am working today.

For sein plus an adjective of state (like müde, krank, glücklich), it maps directly to simple am/are/is in English.

Can I leave out heute or sehr? What changes?

Yes, and the meaning changes slightly:

Ich bin müde.
- I am tired.
- No information about when or how much.
Ich bin heute müde.
- I am tired today.
- Emphasizes today, but not the degree.
Ich bin sehr müde.
- I am very tired.
- Emphasizes the degree, but not the time.
Ich bin heute sehr müde.
- I am very tired today.
- Gives both time (today) and degree (very).

All are correct; you choose depending on what you want to communicate.

Is there a typical position for heute in a sentence like this?

Yes. Time adverbs like heute have preferred positions, but there is flexibility. Common options:

After the verb / subject block (very frequent, neutral):
- Ich bin heute sehr müde.
First in the sentence for emphasis on “today”:
- Heute bin ich sehr müde.

You would normally avoid splitting the verb from the subject in simple main clauses, so you don’t put heute between ich and bin in this case:

Ich heute bin sehr müde. ❌ (wrong)

Remember: in a main clause, the conjugated verb (bin) must stay in second position. The entire subject ich is one unit and usually stays together.