Morgens esse ich gern Haferbrei mit warmen Äpfeln.

to eat

Breakdown of Morgens esse ich gern Haferbrei mit warmen Äpfeln.

• ich: I
• mit: with
• gern: gladly, like

Questions & Answers about Morgens esse ich gern Haferbrei mit warmen Äpfeln.

What does morgens mean here, and why does it end in -s?

Here morgens means in the mornings / every morning / in the morning in a habitual sense.

The -s is part of an adverbial form that is very common with times of day:

• morgens = in the morning(s)
• abends = in the evening(s)
• nachts = at night
• mittags = at noon / around lunchtime

So Morgens esse ich ... sounds like a general routine, not just one specific morning.

A close alternative is am Morgen, but that often sounds a bit more like in the morning as a time reference, while morgens is especially natural for habits.

Why is esse before ich? Shouldn’t it be ich esse?

German main clauses follow the verb-second rule: the finite verb must be in the second position.

In the basic order, you could say:

Ich esse morgens gern Haferbrei ...

But in your sentence, Morgens has been moved to the front for emphasis. Once that happens, the verb still has to stay second, so ich comes after it:

• Morgens = position 1
• esse = position 2
• ich = then comes next

So:

• Ich esse morgens ...
• Morgens esse ich ...

Both are correct.

What does gern mean, and why is German using that instead of a verb meaning to like?