Am Abend lese ich meiner Nichte ein Bilderbuch vor.

I

Breakdown of Am Abend lese ich meiner Nichte ein Bilderbuch vor.

• der Abend: the evening
• mein: my; (masculine or neuter, nominative)
• am: in

Questions & Answers about Am Abend lese ich meiner Nichte ein Bilderbuch vor.

Why does the sentence start with Am Abend?

Am Abend means in the evening or in the evenings, depending on context.

German often puts a time expression at the beginning of a sentence. When that happens, the sentence still follows the verb-second rule, so the conjugated verb must come next:

• Am Abend lese ich ...
• not Am Abend ich lese ...

Starting with Am Abend gives the sentence a natural emphasis on when the action happens.

Why is it lese ich and not ich lese?

Because German main clauses usually follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must be in the second position.

Here, Am Abend takes the first position, so the verb lese must come second:

• Am Abend | lese | ich ...

If the subject comes first, then you would say:

• Ich lese am Abend meiner Nichte ein Bilderbuch vor.

So lese ich is not unusual here at all; it is required by normal German word order.

What does am mean here?