Zeitwörter (Time units)

A1 German grammar — Calendar. These nouns help you talk about duration and parts of the day. „die Stunde“, „die Minute“, and „die Sekunde“ are feminin…

Open chapter: Kalender & Uhrzeit

Rule explained

These nouns help you talk about duration and parts of the day. „die Stunde“, „die Minute“, and „die Sekunde“ are feminine; plural forms add „-n“ where shown. With **in** + duration you express how long until something happens: *in zehn Minuten*, *in einer Stunde*. With **seit** you mark a starting point in the past (*seit zwei Stunden* = for the last two hours). **für** + Akkusativ marks a planned span (*für eine Stunde reservieren*).

Examples

Use these mini-pairs as templates:

• Eine Minute, bitte! — One minute, please!
• Der Zug kommt in zehn Minuten. — The train arrives in ten minutes.
• Wir warten seit einer halben Stunde. — We have been waiting for half an hour.

Common mistakes

Watch out for these learner errors:

• *in einer Minute* (future) vs *seit einer Minute* (ongoing from one minute ago) — opposite time logic.
• *eine Stunde* (f.) — *ein Tag* (m.) / *eine Woche* (f.) for similar patterns.