Translate to German:
a day
ein Tag
day = Tag
two days = zwei Tage
Translate to German:
all day
den ganzen Tag
In English, we say “all day”, but in German, the literal expression is “the whole day” - den ganzen Tag. It’s the same idea, just phrased slightly differently.
Translate to German:
every day / each day
jeden Tag
jeden Tag means “every day” and “each day” and is the fixed phrase used to express daily frequency in German.
Translate to German:
Everything is beautiful.
Alles ist schön.
alles is a pronoun meaning “everything” or “all (things)”.
When used on its own - not before a noun - it refers to everything in general, similar to English “everything”.
Like in English, alles (“everything”) is singular and takes singular verb forms - as in Alles ist schön (“Everything is beautiful”).
Translate to German:
Everyone here is from Germany.
Alle hier sind aus Deutschland.
alle means “everyone” or “all (people)” in German, but can also mean “all (people/things)”.
Even though “everyone” is singular in English, alle is plural in German and always takes plural verb forms.
That’s why in German you say Alle hier sind aus Deutschland (sind = third-person plural of sein), which literally translates to “Everyone here are from Germany”.
Translate to German:
the morning
der Morgen
der Morgen means “the morning” and is a noun.
Careful: Don’t confuse it with morgen (lowercase, without the article), which is an adverb meaning “tomorrow”.
Translate to German:
the afternoon
der Nachmittag
Nachmittag refers to the time after between noon and evening, just as in English “afternoon”.
Fun fact: In German we also have a word for the period between the morning and noon, it is called der Vormittag, literally meaning “the prenoon”. In English this time of the day would be called “late morning”.
Translate to German:
the evening
der Abend
Translate to German:
the night
die Nacht
The plural form is die Nächte (“nights”). This is a useful form to memorize for travel and reservations (e.g., “two nights” = zwei Nächte).
Translate to German:
today
heute
Translate to German:
tomorrow
morgen
tomorrow = morgen
You can tell it’s not the noun der Morgen (“the morning”) because it’s lowercase - but when speaking, context is important to understand the intended meaning.
Translate to German:
this morning
heute Morgen
In German, heute Morgen combines “today” (heute) with “morning” (Morgen), similar to saying “today morning” in English.
Translate to German:
tomorrow morning
morgen früh
morgen früh literally means “tomorrow early”, but it’s used like “tomorrow morning” in English.
Translate to German:
yesterday
gestern
gestern is a straightforward translation of “yesterday”, used the same way in both languages to refer to the day before today.
[What is being said in the audio recording?]
- Man: Wann?
- Woman: Morgen Abend.
Translation:
- Man: “When?”
- Woman: “Tomorrow evening.”
Note that “wann” means when.
[What is being said in the audio recording?]
- Woman: Wann?
- Man: Gestern Nachmittag.
Translation:
- Woman: “When?”
- Man: “Yesterday afternoon.”
Translate to German:
in the afternoons
(regularly)
nachmittags
nachmittags means “in the afternoons” or “in the afternoon” (regularly).
The ending -s turns Nachmittag (noun) into an adverb, showing that something happens repeatedly or generally during that time of day.
This pattern also applies to all other times of day - morgens, abends, etc.
Translate to German:
tonight
heute Abend
Literally, heute Abend means “today evening”, but it’s used to mean “tonight” in English.
In German, Abend covers the time until people go to bed or midnight, while Nacht refers to the late-night hours when people are sleeping.
Translate to German:
last night
letzte Nacht
last = letzt
When describing a feminine singular noun (like Nacht), the adjective letzt must take the -e ending (becoming letzte).
[What is being said in the audio recording?]
- Man: Wann?
- Woman: Jede Nacht!
Translation:
- Man: “When?”
- Woman: “Every night!”
[What is being said in the audio recording?]
- Woman: Wann?
- Man: Heute Nachmittag.
Translation:
- Woman: “When?”
- Man: “This afternoon.”
In German, “this afternoon” is usually said as heute Nachmittag (“today afternoon”).
When using the demonstrative pronoun dieser (“this”) with the time of a day, as dieser Nachmittag, it refers to a specific afternoon, for example, one being discussed or contrasted - not necessarily today’s.
[What is being said in the audio recording?]
- Woman: Wann? Heute Abend?
- Man: Nein, morgen Abend.
Translation:
- Woman: “When? Tonight?”
- Man: “No, tomorrow night.”
In German, “tomorrow night” is usually morgen Abend (“tomorrow evening”), not morgen Nacht.
[What is being said in the audio recording?]
- Man: Wann? Gestern Morgen?
- Woman: Nein, gestern Abend.
Translation:
- Man: “When? Yesterday morning?”
- Woman: “No, yesterday evening.”
Translate to German:
a week
eine Woche
