Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich jeden Tag.

My German skills improve every day.

Breakdown of Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich jeden Tag.

• der Tag: the day
• mein: my
• sich: themselves
• jeden: every; (masculine, accusative)
• verbessern: to improve
• die Deutschkenntnisse: the knowledge of German

Questions & Answers about Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich jeden Tag.

Why is it meine and not mein Deutschkenntnisse?

Mein / meine / mein / meine is the possessive for ich (my). It changes to match the gender, number, and case of the noun:

• Deutschkenntnisse is plural.
• In this sentence, Deutschkenntnisse is the subject → nominative plural.

Nominative plural of mein- is meine.

So we say meine Deutschkenntnisse = my German skills (plural subject), not mein Deutschkenntnisse.

Why is Deutschkenntnisse plural? Can I say Deutschkenntnis?

In practice, Kenntnisse is almost always used in the plural when talking about someone’s skills or knowledge in a subject:

• Kenntnis (singular) = one specific piece of information / a single piece of knowledge
• Kenntnisse (plural) = knowledge, skills (as a general ability)

When you talk about your ability in a language, you mean your overall language skills, so German uses the plural:

• Deutschkenntnisse = your German language skills (overall ability)

Saying Deutschkenntnis here would sound wrong or at least very odd.

What exactly does Deutschkenntnisse mean, literally?

Deutschkenntnisse is a compound:

• Deutsch = German (the language)
• Kenntnisse = (practical) knowledge, skills

So literally: “German-knowledge(s)”, i.e. your ability to use German (speaking, understanding, etc.).

Why is Deutschkenntnisse capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized.

Deutschkenntnisse is a noun (you can put an article in front of it: die Deutschkenntnisse), so it must be capitalized, even in the middle of a sentence.

Why is the verb verbessern in the form verbessern and not verbessert or something else?

Verbs in German agree with the subject in person and number.

• Subject: meine Deutschkenntnisse → plural → 3rd person plural
• Present tense of verbessern:
  • ich verbessere
  • du verbesserst
  • er/sie/es verbessert
  • wir verbessern
  • ihr verbessert
  • sie/Sie verbessern

For sie (they) we use verbessern.
So Meine Deutschkenntnisse (sie) verbessern sich … → verbessern is correct.

Why do we need sich? Why not just Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern jeden Tag?

Sich verbessern is a reflexive verb: the subject and the “object” are the same.

• etwas verbessern = to improve something (you improve an object)
  • Ich verbessere meinen Text. – I improve my text.
• sich verbessern = to improve oneself / to get better
  • Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich. – My German skills are improving.

Without sich, it sounds like you are improving something else every day.
With sich, it clearly means the skills themselves are getting better.

Does sich change with different subjects?

Yes. Sich is only the 3rd person form. Reflexive pronouns change with the subject, just like in English (myself, yourself, himself …). In the accusative:

• ich → mich verbessern (I improve myself)
• du → dich verbessern
• er/sie/es → sich verbessern
• wir → uns verbessern
• ihr → euch verbessern
• sie/Sie → sich verbessern

In the sentence, the subject is meine Deutschkenntnisse → sie (they) → sich.

Why is the word order verbessern sich and not sich verbessern?

German main clauses normally follow:

1. One element in position 1 (here: Meine Deutschkenntnisse)
2. The conjugated verb in position 2 (here: verbessern)
3. Other elements (objects, adverbs, etc.) after that (here: sich, jeden Tag)

So:

• Meine Deutschkenntnisse (position 1)
• verbessern (verb, position 2)
• sich (reflexive pronoun in the “middle field”)
• jeden Tag (time expression at the end)

You can say Jeden Tag verbessern sich meine Deutschkenntnisse.
Then Jeden Tag is in position 1, verbessern stays in position 2, and the rest follows. The verb must stay in second position; the reflexive pronoun can move around inside the middle part of the sentence.

What case is sich here: accusative or dative?

With sich verbessern, the reflexive pronoun is accusative.

You can check this by comparing patterns:

• Ich wasche mich. – accusative (no other direct object)
• Ich wasche mir die Hände. – dative reflexive (mir), plus another object (die Hände)

Sich verbessern behaves like sich waschen in the first example: there is no other direct object, so sich is accusative.

Why is it jeden Tag and not jeder Tag?

Tag is:

• masculine: der Tag
• singular: ein Tag

The phrase jeden Tag is an expression of time, meaning every day. Time expressions like this take the accusative case in German.

Masculine singular of jeder:

• Nominative: jeder Tag
• Accusative: jeden Tag

Because it is accusative of time, we must use jeden Tag, not jeder Tag.

What is the function of jeden Tag in this sentence?

Jeden Tag is a time adverbial: it answers “When?” or “How often?”

• Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich – My German skills are improving.
• jeden Tag – every day (how often/when they improve).

So it tells you the frequency of the improvement.

Could I say täglich instead of jeden Tag? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can:

• Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich täglich.
• Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich jeden Tag.

Both mean essentially the same: My German skills are improving every day.

Nuance:

• täglich = “daily” (adverb), a bit more compact or formal.
• jeden Tag = “every day”, slightly more conversational, more concrete.

Can I also say Meine Deutschkenntnisse werden jeden Tag besser? Is that the same?

Yes, that is a very natural alternative:

• Meine Deutschkenntnisse verbessern sich jeden Tag.
• Meine Deutschkenntnisse werden jeden Tag besser.

Both mean My German skills are improving every day.

Nuance:

• sich verbessern focuses a bit more on the process of improvement.
• besser werden focuses on the resulting state (they are getting better).

In everyday conversation, both are fine and often interchangeable.

What is the grammatical subject of the sentence?

The subject is meine Deutschkenntnisse.

You can see this because:

• It is in the nominative case.
• The verb verbessern agrees with it (3rd person plural).
• It is the thing that is doing the action: the skills are improving.

Everything else (sich jeden Tag) gives more information about how and when.