Reference · module 4
Days and time
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Die Woche
Name any day, and say what you are doing on it.
- Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag. Mittwoch is the odd one: it is not named after anything, it is simply the middle of the week.
- To say on a day, German uses am. Am Montag, am Freitag. One small word for every day of the week, and no exceptions to learn.
- The weekend is das Wochenende — literally the week's end. And am Wochenende, with the same am, means at the weekend.
The mistake you are about to make
auf Montag
am Montag
English says on Monday, so auf looks like the match. Days take am — all of them. Am is not a translation of on here, it is simply what a day of the week wears.
Wie spät ist es?
Ask the time and understand the answer.
- Wie spät ist es? How late is it? That is how German asks for the time, and Wie viel Uhr ist es? works just as well.
- The easy half: Es ist drei Uhr. Three o'clock. Uhr is both the clock and the o'clock, and the number goes in front of it.
- The half that catches everybody: halb drei is half past TWO, not three. German counts the half hour towards the coming hour, not back from the last one.
The mistake you are about to make
halb drei = 3:30
halb drei = 2:30
Half three in English is 3:30. German counts the half towards the hour that is coming, not away from the one that passed: halb drei is 2:30. A full hour off, every time.
Der Tag
Say what you do in a day, in the order you do it.
- A day in six verbs: aufstehen, frühstücken, arbeiten, essen, lernen, schlafen. Get up, have breakfast, work, eat, study, sleep.
- For a time of day, add an -s: morgens, mittags, abends, nachts. Morgens lerne ich Deutsch means I study German in the mornings — habitually, not once.
- When both a time and a place turn up, time comes first: Ich lerne abends zu Hause. German is strict about this, and English is the opposite way round.
The mistake you are about to make
Ich aufstehe um sieben.
Ich stehe um sieben auf.
English keeps get and up side by side. German splits aufstehen in two and throws the prefix all the way to the end: ich stehe um sieben auf.