the invention relates to a method for determining the phase currents through phase windings and an excitation current through an excitation winding of an electrical machine , wherein an excitation winding is connected between a star point of the phase windings and a defined reference potential , the method comprising the following steps : — periodic driving of the electrical machine with a predefined pulse pattern ; — determining a respective measurement current in a plurality of temporal measuring windows of a measuring period , wherein the measurement currents correspond to currents through one of the phase windings and through one or more parallel connections of a plurality of the phase windings ; and — determining the phase currents and the excitation current by evaluating the measurement currents determined during the measuring period .