Basic states, preparation, and time | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ich fühle mich besser.

   I am feeling better.

   Ich

   I

   fühle

   feel

   mich

   myself

   besser

   better

   More detail

   Ich means “I” here. It is the first-person singular personal pronoun, used for the speaker. Its form is not the verb’s form: the verb must also agree with this subject. fühle is the first-person singular present form of fühlen, “to feel.” The present tense can describe a current state: Ich fühle mich gut. means “I feel good.” The form changes with the subject: ich fühle, but du fühlst means “you feel.” mich is the first-person singular reflexive pronoun, “myself,” used here because the person feeling is also the person experiencing the state. With another subject, the reflexive form changes: Du fühlst dich gut. means “You feel good.” besser means “better” here. It is the comparative form of gut (“good”): gut → besser → am besten (“best”). The comparative indicates an improvement relative to an understood earlier or other state, without specifying what that comparison is. Together, Ich fühle mich forms the pattern “I feel,” literally expressing the speaker’s own experienced state, and besser adds the comparison “better.” The whole utterance therefore means “I am feeling better.”

2. Ich bin sehr beschäftigt.

   I am very busy.

   Ich bin

   I am

   sehr

   very

   beschäftigt

   busy

   More detail

   Ich bin means “I am.” Ich is the first-person singular pronoun, and bin is the present-tense form of sein (“to be”) used with it. The same pattern introduces a current state: Ich bin bereit means “I am ready.” sehr means “very” and strengthens the following description. It normally comes before the adjective or other expression it intensifies: sehr müde means “very tired.” beschäftigt means “busy” here. It is used as a predicate adjective after sein; in this position it describes the speaker’s current state. Predicate adjectives after sein do not take an additional ending in this sentence. Compare Ich bin beschäftigt (“I am busy”) with Ich bin sehr beschäftigt (“I am very busy”). Together, Ich bin + sehr + beschäftigt forms the complete meaning: “I am very busy.”

3. Ich bin jetzt bereit.

   I am ready now.

   Ich

   I

   bin

   am

   jetzt

   now

   bereit

   ready

   More detail

   Ich means “I,” the first-person singular subject pronoun. Here it refers to the speaker. German uses ich for the subject and mich for an object: Ich sehe ihn. — “I see him”; Er sieht mich. — “He sees me.” bin is the present-tense first-person singular form of sein, “to be”: sein → ich bin. It agrees with Ich. For comparison, du bist means “you are,” and wir sind means “we are.” jetzt means “now.” It places the state in the present time. Its position can vary for emphasis; in this sentence it comes after bin and before bereit. bereit means “ready” and describes the speaker’s state. After a form of sein, German can use an adjective as a predicate; bereit has no adjective ending in this use. Example: Sie ist bereit. — “She is ready.” Together, Ich bin means “I am,” jetzt means “now,” and bereit means “ready.” The complete utterance means “I am ready now.”

4. Ich bin nicht bereit.

   I am not ready.

   Ich

   I

   bin

   am

   nicht

   not

   bereit

   ready

   More detail

   Ich means “I,” the speaker. German uses this first-person singular pronoun when the speaker is the subject. Its form does not change for grammatical gender; the speaker’s gender is not specified here. bin is the present-tense first-person singular form of sein (“to be”): sein → ich bin. This form agrees with Ich. For comparison, du bist means “you are,” while er/sie ist means “he/she is.” Example: Ich bin müde. — “I am tired.” nicht is the usual German negation word, “not.” Here it negates the statement that the speaker is ready. Its position can vary in longer sentences, but in this short pattern it comes directly before the adjective: Ich bin nicht ... — “I am not ...”. Example: Ich bin nicht müde. — “I am not tired.” bereit is an adjective meaning “ready” or “prepared.” The form is the same here for this predicate use after sein; it is not an inflected noun. Example: Wir sind bereit. — “We are ready.” Together, Ich bin identifies the speaker and states their condition, nicht reverses the positive statement, and bereit names the condition: “I am not ready.” The utterance expresses the speaker’s current lack of readiness without specifying exactly what they are not ready for.

5. Ich brauche mehr Zeit.

   I need more time.

   Ich

   I

   brauche

   need

   mehr

   more

   Zeit

   time

   More detail

   Ich means “I” here: it is the first-person singular pronoun in the subject form (nominative). Its object form is mich, as in Er sieht mich (“He sees me”). brauche is the present-tense first-person singular form of brauchen (“to need”). The ending -e marks the ich form here: ich brauche, du brauchst. Example: Ich brauche Hilfe. — “I need help.” mehr means “more” and is the comparative form related to viel (“much/a lot”). It is used for an increased amount: mehr Zeit means “more time.” Example: Ich möchte mehr Wasser. — “I would like more water.” Zeit means “time.” It is a feminine noun, so its dictionary form is normally given with the article die: die Zeit. In this sentence it appears without an article because the expression refers to time as an uncounted amount. Example: Die Zeit ist knapp. — “Time is short.” Together, Ich brauche states the speaker’s need, and mehr Zeit identifies the needed thing as an additional amount of time. The whole utterance therefore means “I need more time.”

6. Hast du Zeit?

   Do you have time?

   Hast du

   do you have

   Zeit

   time

   More detail

   Hast du is the German second-person singular form of haben (“to have”) with du (“you”). In a yes/no question, the conjugated verb comes before the subject: Hast du ...? means “Do you have ...?” Here, hast is the present-tense form used with du; the base form is haben. Compare the statement pattern Du hast ... (“You have ...”) with the question pattern Hast du ...?. Zeit means “time” here. It is a noun and is normally written with a capital letter in German. The phrase can refer generally to having time available, without stating a particular amount. For example: Ich habe Zeit. — “I have time.” Together, Hast du + Zeit forms the reusable question pattern Hast du [noun]?, asking whether the person addressed has or possesses the thing named. Thus Hast du Zeit? means “Do you have time?”