Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe.

Here, schraube means am screwing or am twisting in with a screw-like motion.

The verb is schrauben, and ich schraube is the 1st person singular present tense: I screw / I am screwing.

With a light bulb, German often uses schrauben because you put it in by turning it. In very natural German, you may also hear:

• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe ein.
• Ich drehe die Glühbirne in die Lampe.

So the sentence is correct, but in everyday speech, einschrauben or eindrehen can sound even more specific.

Because both Glühbirne and Lampe are feminine singular nouns.

• die Glühbirne
• die Lampe

Also, in this sentence both are in the accusative, and for feminine singular, the accusative article is still die.

So even though the two die look the same, they belong to different nouns:

• die Glühbirne = the direct object
• in die Lampe = a prepositional phrase showing direction

Because in is a two-way preposition in German. It can take:

• accusative for motion/direction
• dative for location/static position

Here, the bulb is being moved into the lamp, so German uses the accusative:

• in die Lampe = into the lamp

If you said in der Lampe, that would mean in the lamp as a location, not a direction.

Compare:

• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe. = I screw the bulb into the lamp.
• Die Glühbirne ist in der Lampe. = The bulb is in the lamp.

It is the accusative direct object.

The subject is Ich, and the thing being acted on is die Glühbirne. Since it is the thing you are screwing in, it is the direct object, so it takes the accusative.

For feminine singular nouns, the accusative article is die, which looks the same as the nominative.

So:

• die Glühbirne can be nominative or accusative
• In this sentence, it is accusative

Schrauben is understandable and correct, but many speakers would more naturally say:

• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe ein.
• Ich drehe die Glühbirne in die Lampe ein.
• Ich drehe die Glühbirne in die Fassung.

Why? Because ein- adds the idea of inserting inward, which fits the action better.

So:

• schrauben = to screw
• einschrauben = to screw in
• eindrehen = to twist in

Your sentence is fine, but einschrauben is often more idiomatic.

In a main clause, the prefix separates and goes to the end:

• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe ein.

That is because einschrauben is a separable verb.

Compare:

• infinitive: einschrauben
• main clause: Ich schraube ... ein.

In a subordinate clause or with another infinitive form, it stays together:

• ..., weil ich die Glühbirne in die Lampe einschraube.
• Ich will die Glühbirne in die Lampe einschrauben.

German main clauses normally follow the verb-second rule: the conjugated verb comes in the second position.

So the structure here is:

• Ich = first position
• schraube = second position
• die Glühbirne = object
• in die Lampe = prepositional phrase

This is the most neutral word order.

You can change the order for emphasis, as long as the verb stays second:

• Die Glühbirne schraube ich in die Lampe.
• In die Lampe schraube ich die Glühbirne.

Those are grammatical, but they emphasize different parts of the sentence.

It is not the most natural neutral order.

German allows some flexibility, but the usual order is more like:

• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe.

Putting in die Lampe before die Glühbirne is possible in special contexts, but it sounds marked or emphasizes the location/direction.

So for normal everyday German, stick with:

• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe.

Because die means the, so the sentence is talking about a specific light bulb.

If you wanted to say a light bulb, you would use:

• Ich schraube eine Glühbirne in eine Lampe.

or possibly:

• Ich schraube eine Glühbirne in die Lampe.
  if the lamp is specific but the bulb is not

So the article depends on whether the bulb and lamp are already known or specific in the situation.

Literally, Glühbirne is made up of:

• glüh- from glühen = to glow
• Birne = pear

So literally it is something like glow-pear, because traditional bulbs are pear-shaped.

But in real German, Glühbirne simply means light bulb.

A useful note: even though many modern bulbs are not incandescent, people still often say Glühbirne in everyday language.

Good question. In everyday speech, Lampe is common and easy to understand. It often refers to the whole lamp or light fixture.

But if you want to be more precise, German might use:

• die Fassung = the socket
• die Leuchte = the light fixture
• die Lampe = lamp/light, often used broadly in everyday speech

So these are all possible, depending on how precise you want to be:

• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Lampe.
• Ich schraube die Glühbirne in die Fassung ein.

The second is more exact.

The tricky part is ü.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Glüh sounds a bit like saying glee, but with rounded lips
• Birne sounds roughly like BEER-nuh, though the German r varies by accent

A very rough English-style approximation would be:

• glooh-beer-nuh
  but that is only approximate

For ü, try this:

1. Say ee as in see
2. Keep your tongue there
3. Round your lips as if saying oo

That gives you something close to German ü.

No, not in its normal reading.

Because of in die Lampe, the sentence describes movement into the lamp, so it means the action of putting the bulb in.

If you want to describe the bulb already being there, you would use a location expression with dative:

• Die Glühbirne ist in der Lampe.

So:

• in die Lampe = into the lamp
• in der Lampe = in the lamp

That accusative/dative contrast is very important in German.