Tired eyes and screen breaks | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Meine Augen fühlen sich müde an.

   My eyes feel tired.

   Meine

   my

   Augen

   eyes

   fühlen … sich … an

   feel

   müde

   tired

   More detail

   Meine means “my” and is the possessive determiner used with Augen here. It has the form meine because Augen is plural; the basic form is mein. The same form also occurs with some singular feminine nouns, so plurality alone is not the only condition for meine. Example: Meine Hände sind kalt. — “My hands are cold.” Augen is the plural of Auge, “eye.” Example: Meine Augen sind offen. — “My eyes are open.” fühlen sich an comes from the separable verb sich anfühlen, meaning “to feel” in the sense of having a particular sensation. Here fühlen is the third-person plural present form because Augen is the subject, sich is the reflexive pronoun, and the prefix an appears at the end of the clause. Pattern: etwas fühlt sich ... an — “something feels ... .” Example: Der Stoff fühlt sich weich an. — “The fabric feels soft.” müde means “tired.” It is the descriptive word that states the sensation of the eyes here. It does not take an ending in this position because it follows fühlen sich ... an as a predicate complement. Example: Ich fühle mich müde. — “I feel tired.” Together, Meine Augen is “my eyes,” fühlen sich ... an says how they feel, and müde describes that sensation. The complete utterance means “My eyes feel tired.”

2. Der Bildschirm ist vielleicht zu hell.

   The screen may be too bright.

   Der Bildschirm

   the screen

   vielleicht

   perhaps; may

   hell

   bright

   More detail

   Der Bildschirm means “the screen” here. Bildschirm is a masculine noun, so its definite article in the nominative singular is der. The plural is Bildschirme; for example, Die Bildschirme sind hell. means “The screens are bright.” vielleicht expresses uncertainty: “perhaps” or “maybe.” In this sentence it makes the statement tentative rather than definite. Example: Vielleicht regnet es. — “Maybe it is raining.” hell means “bright” here. It is an adjective describing the screen. In the predicate after ist, it appears as hell without an ending: Der Bildschirm ist hell. — “The screen is bright.” Its opposite is dunkel, “dark.” Together, zu hell means “too bright”: zu placed before an adjective marks an excessive degree. Thus Der Bildschirm ist zu hell. means “The screen is too bright.” The verb ist is the third-person singular present form of sein, “to be,” agreeing with the singular subject Der Bildschirm. Finally, vielleicht makes the complete statement uncertain: Der Bildschirm ist vielleicht zu hell. means “The screen may be too bright” or “Perhaps the screen is too bright.”

3. Kann ich ihn dunkler machen?

   Can I make it darker?

   Kann ich

   Can I ...?

   ihn

   it

   dunkler

   darker

   machen

   make

   More detail

   Kann ich begins a yes/no question. kann is the third-person singular form of können (“can, be able to”), but here the subject is ich, so the form is kann because German uses this form with first-person singular as well as third-person singular. With a modal verb, the other verb usually goes to the end in the infinitive: Kann ich ... machen? = “Can I ... make?” ihn is the masculine accusative form of er (“he; it” for a masculine noun). In this context it refers to the screen (der Bildschirm) from the preceding sentence, and the English “it” expresses that object reference. The accusative form marks the thing being changed. Compare the nominative form er with the accusative form ihn: Ich sehe ihn. = “I see it/him.” dunkler is the comparative form of the adjective dunkel (“dark”). It means “darker” here, describing a resulting change in the screen’s brightness. The basic comparison chain is dunkel → dunkler → am dunkelsten (“dark” → “darker” → “darkest”). In this sentence, dunkler machen is a reusable pattern meaning “make [something] darker.” machen is the infinitive of “to make” and completes the modal-verb construction. The person and tense are carried by kann, while machen stays in the infinitive at the end. For example, Kann ich das Fenster öffnen? means “Can I open the window?” Together, Kann ich ihn dunkler machen? asks whether the speaker may or is able to change the referenced screen so that it becomes darker: “Can I make it darker?”

4. Mach die Helligkeit niedriger.

   Try lowering the brightness.

   Mach

   make

   die Helligkeit

   the brightness

   niedriger

   lower

   More detail

   Mach is the imperative of machen (“to make/do”) for informal singular du. The imperative addresses one person directly. In this sentence, mach ... niedriger means “make ... lower”; German does not use a separate word corresponding to “try” here. die Helligkeit means “the brightness.” Helligkeit is a feminine noun, so its definite article is die; its useful related adjective is hell (“bright/light”). The noun is the object being changed. niedriger is the comparative form of niedrig (“low”): niedrig → niedriger (“lower”). After machen, this adjective describes the resulting state of the object, and it has no ending here: Mach die Lautstärke niedriger. — “Make the volume lower.” Together, Mach gives the direct instruction, die Helligkeit identifies what should be changed, and niedriger states the desired result: “Make the brightness lower,” naturally translated here as “Try lowering the brightness.”

5. Ich sollte meine Augen auch entspannen.

   I should rest my eyes too.

   Ich sollte

   I should

   meine

   my

   Augen

   eyes

   auch

   too / also

   entspannen

   relax

   More detail

   Ich sollte: Ich means “I.” sollte is the first-person singular form of sollen. In this sentence, the form expresses present advice or a mild obligation: “should.” Its shape is also the Präteritum form of sollen; the context and fixed translation determine the advice meaning here. With another subject, the same form can occur: Er sollte pausieren. — “He should take a break.” After this modal verb, the other verb remains in the infinitive and appears later in the sentence. meine: This possessive determiner means “my” here. It agrees with the thing possessed, not with the possessor. Here it is the accusative plural form used with Augen: mein Auge — “my eye”; meine Augen — “my eyes.” Augen: This means “eyes” here. It is the plural of Auge (“eye”): Auge → Augen. In this sentence, the plural noun is the accusative object of entspannen. auch: This means “too” or “also,” adding this action as an additional one. Its position can change the emphasis: Auch ich sollte meine Augen entspannen. — “I, too, should relax my eyes.” entspannen: This is the infinitive “to relax.” Here it is used transitively, with meine Augen as its object, so it means “to relax my eyes.” The related reflexive expression sich entspannen means “to relax” oneself. Example: Ich entspanne meine Schultern. — “I relax my shoulders.” Together, Ich sollte gives the advice “I should,” meine Augen identifies what is to be relaxed, auch adds “too,” and entspannen is the infinitive required after sollte: “I should rest my eyes too.”

6. Schau jetzt vom Bildschirm weg.

   Look away from the screen now.

   Schau

   look

   jetzt

   now

   vom

   from the

   Bildschirm

   screen

   weg

   away

   More detail

   Schau is the informal singular imperative of schauen, “to look.” It addresses one person and gives a direct instruction. The polite form is Schauen Sie; the plural informal form is Schaut. jetzt means “now” and places the requested action at the present time. Example: Komm jetzt. — “Come now.” vom is the contraction of von dem. Here it introduces what the looking should move away from. von takes the dative, and dem is the dative singular definite article used with the masculine noun Bildschirm. Bildschirm means “screen.” Its plural is Bildschirme. Example: Der Bildschirm ist hell. — “The screen is bright.” weg means “away.” With schauen, it forms the separable verb wegschauen (“to look away”). In a main-clause imperative, the verb part Schau comes first and the separable part weg appears at the end: Schau ... weg. Together, Schau ... weg gives the instruction “look away,” vom Bildschirm specifies that the looking should be away from the screen, and jetzt specifies when to do it. The complete utterance therefore means: “Look away from the screen now.”

7. Das fühlt sich besser an.

   That feels better.

   Das

   That

   fühlt sich … an

   feels

   besser

   better

   More detail

   Das is a demonstrative pronoun meaning “that” here. It functions as the subject and can point to a situation or thing understood from context; the sentence itself does not identify a more specific referent. In this use it is not an article before a noun. fühlt sich … an belongs to the separable verb sich anfühlen, “to feel.” In the fixed sentence, fühlt is the present-tense form for a third-person singular subject, and sich is the reflexive form used with that subject. The prefix an moves to the end in this finite main clause, giving the reusable pattern Das fühlt sich ... an or, with another subject, [subject] fühlt sich ... an. Example: Der Stoff fühlt sich weich an. — “The fabric feels soft.” This describes how something feels to the person perceiving it; fühlt sich is not the same construction as simply saying that someone feels an emotion. besser is the comparative form of gut: gut “good,” besser “better,” am besten “best.” It compares the current feeling with an earlier or alternative one; the comparison point is understood rather than stated here. The adjective remains besser because it follows sich anfühlen as a predicative description, not as an adjective directly modifying a noun. Together, Das supplies the subject, fühlt sich ... an says how that subject seems by perception, and besser gives the comparison. Thus Das fühlt sich besser an. means “That feels better.”

8. Mach später noch eine Pause.

   Take another break later.

   Mach

   take / make (command)

   später

   later

   noch

   another / still

   Pause

   break

   More detail

   Mach is the informal singular imperative of machen (“to do/make”). In this utterance, with eine Pause, it means “take” as part of the German pattern eine Pause machen (“to take a break”). The imperative addresses one person directly; the subject du is normally omitted. Example: Mach die Tür zu. — “Close the door.” später is an adverb meaning “later,” so it places the action at a later time rather than now. It does not itself specify exactly when. Here noch contributes the idea of an additional break, giving noch eine Pause = “another break.” This reading comes from its combination with the noun phrase and the context of the utterance; noch has other uses. For example, Ich bin noch hier. means “I am still here.” eine Pause is the accusative noun phrase functioning as the object of machen. Pause is a feminine noun, so its feminine indefinite article is eine in both nominative and accusative singular. The noun is singular, while the meaning “another” adds the idea that this break is additional. Together, Mach + noch eine Pause forms the informal command “take another break,” and später specifies that this should happen later. The complete utterance therefore means: “Take another break later.”