A method of operating dual-clutch transmission for a vehicle which has two partial transmissions, each partial transmission having an input shaft arranged on an input shaft axis. An output shaft is arranged on the input shaft axis or a parallel countershaft axis. An intermediate gear system on the countershaft axis. At least one input shaft can be connected to the drive output shaft, as a direct drive, and only one countershaft is arranged on the countershaft axis and supports only fixed gears. One of the gears is a direct gear so that, when the direct gear is engaged, all the shifting elements, for coupling the intermediate gear system via the gear planes into the force flow, can be disengaged. Each gear plane can be coupled by a shifting element arranged on the input shaft axis to a shaft, and the gear next-lower than the direct gear is a coupling gear.