Learn Hardcore German: Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch. - This evening we will play the game all the way through again.

Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

This evening we will play the game all the way through again.

Breakdown of Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

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Questions & Answers about Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

Why does the sentence start with Heute Abend and why does the verb spielen come right after it?

German main clauses follow the verb‑second rule (V2): the conjugated verb must be in the second position in the sentence.

In your sentence, the structure is:

Heute Abend = one single element (a time expression)
spielen = conjugated verb
wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch = the rest

So the pattern is:

[Heute Abend] [spielen] [wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch].

If you start with wir, the verb is still in second place:

Wir spielen heute Abend das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

Both word orders are correct.
Putting Heute Abend at the beginning simply emphasizes the time (“This evening, we’re going to do this”).

Could I also say Wir spielen heute Abend das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, that sentence is completely correct as well:

Wir spielen heute Abend das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

The basic meaning is the same. The difference is mostly in emphasis:

Heute Abend spielen wir …
→ Focus on when: “This evening we’re (the ones who) will play the game through again.”
Wir spielen heute Abend …
→ More neutral sentence; focus starts on we rather than the time.

In everyday speech, both are natural, and the choice is largely stylistic.

Why is the simple present spielen used to talk about the future? Why not werden spielen?

German often uses the present tense to talk about the near or planned future, especially when there is a clear time expression.

Heute Abend spielen wir …
= We will play … this evening.
Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin.
= I’ll go to Berlin tomorrow.

The future tense with werden usually appears:

when you want to emphasize the future or make a prediction
when no time expression is given and you need to clarify it’s future

You could say:

Heute Abend werden wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durchspielen.

This is grammatically correct but sounds more formal or slightly more emphatic.
The version with the present tense is more natural in everyday conversation.

What exactly is the difference between noch einmal, nochmal, and wieder?

All three can be translated as “again”, but they’re used a bit differently:

noch einmal
- literally: “one more time”
- often slightly more explicit or emphatic
- common in both spoken and written German
nochmal
- colloquial contraction of noch einmal
- very common in speech and informal writing
- almost always interchangeable with noch einmal in meaning
wieder
- more general “again / once more / back”
- often used when something happens again as a repetition, or returns to a previous state
- in some contexts, it doesn’t automatically carry the idea of “one more time (and then we’re done)”, just “again”.

In your sentence:

… das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

You could also say:

… das Spiel nochmal komplett durch. (more casual)
… das Spiel wieder komplett durch. (okay, but less idiomatic here; noch (ein)mal fits better for “let’s do it one more time from start to finish”)

Why is it das Spiel, and why is das used here instead of another article?

Spiel is a neuter noun in German:

das Spiel – the game

Articles change with gender, number, and case. Here:

It’s singular (one game, not several games).
It’s the direct object of the verb spielen, so it’s in the accusative case.
Neuter accusative singular of der/die/das is das.

So we have:

Nominative: das Spiel ist neu. – the game is new.
Accusative: wir spielen das Spiel. – we play the game.

You cannot leave out the article here in normal German:

❌ wir spielen Spiel
✅ wir spielen das Spiel

If you meant games in general, you’d use Spiele (plural):

Wir spielen Spiele. – We play games.

What does durch at the end do? Is durchspielen a special verb?

Yes. durchspielen is a separable verb: it consists of the verb spielen and the prefix durch.

durchspielen literally: to play through
→ to play something from beginning to end, usually without stopping, often with the idea of finishing it.

In the present tense main clause, separable verbs behave like this:

The prefix goes to the end of the clause.
The conjugated part stays in second position.

So:

Infinitive: durchspielen
Main clause:
- Wir spielen das Spiel durch. – We play the game through (to the end).
- Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

In other tenses or structures, the parts come back together:

Wir haben das Spiel noch einmal komplett durchgespielt.
Wir wollen das Spiel noch einmal komplett durchspielen.

If durchspielen already means “play through (to the end)”, why add komplett? Isn’t that redundant?

durchspielen on its own already implies playing something through from start to finish.

Adding komplett:

intensifies the idea of completeness
makes it sound like: truly from start to finish, without skipping anything.

So the nuance is:

das Spiel durchspielen
→ play the game all the way through
das Spiel komplett durchspielen
→ play the game completely all the way through (maybe emphasizing you won’t stop halfway, skip levels, or quit early)

It’s a common style in German to reinforce meaning with an extra adverb, even if it’s slightly redundant logically.

Where exactly do noch einmal, komplett, and durch belong in the sentence? Could I rearrange them?

In your sentence:

Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel noch einmal komplett durch.

The structure at the end is:

noch einmal = again / one more time
komplett = completely
durch = separable prefix of durchspielen

This is very natural word order: frequency/time modifier → manner modifier → verb prefix.

Some alternatives and their feel:

… das Spiel komplett noch einmal durch.
→ possible, but less natural; sounds a bit clumsy.
… das Spiel noch einmal durch, komplett.
→ sounds like you added komplett afterwards as an afterthought; unusual.
… das Spiel komplett noch einmal durchspielen.
→ correct only in a structure where durchspielen is together (infinitive or participle), e.g.:
> Wir wollen das Spiel komplett noch einmal durchspielen.

For a normal present tense main clause with durch separated, your original order is the most idiomatic:

… noch einmal komplett durch.

What exactly does Heute Abend mean, and is there a difference between heute Abend, am Abend, and heute Nacht?

heute Abend
- literally: “today evening”
- idiomatically: “this evening / tonight”
- used for the early night/evening hours.
am Abend
- literally: “on the evening / in the evening”
- more general: “in the evening (in general / usually / on that evening)”
- often used in habitual statements or less specific time references:
  - Ich arbeite am Abend. – I work in the evening.
  - Am Abend haben wir gespielt. – In the evening we played.
heute Nacht
- “tonight” but referring to the late night / sleeping hours (after you would normally go to bed).

So if you say:

Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel …
→ We’ll do it this evening (before or around the time you’d go to bed).

If you said:

Heute Nacht spielen wir das Spiel …
→ We’ll do it tonight, during the night (unusual, unless you really mean late at night).

Why is it wir and not uns? When do I use each?

In German:

wir = we (subject form, nominative)
uns = us (object form: accusative or dative)

In your sentence, wir is the subject (the ones doing the action):

Heute Abend spielen wir das Spiel …
Wir (who?) play the game.

If you needed “us” as an object, you’d use uns:

Er hilft uns. – He helps us. (dative)
Er sieht uns. – He sees us. (accusative)

So here only wir is correct, because “we” are doing the playing.