Method for classifying parking scenarios for an assistance system for parking a motor vehicle, a predefined number of parking scenarios being defined and each parking scenario being described by a predefined number of typical parking scenario criteria, the criteria being based at least on parking-space-specific parameters, and the method having the following steps of: determining data relating to the environment of the motor vehicle using an environment sensor system of the motor vehicle, determining parking-space-specific parameters from the environment data, checking the criteria of each parking scenario using the parking-space-specific parameters, and classifying each parking scenario using the criteria which have been checked, characterized in that at least the following scenarios: "reversing into a perpendicular parking space", "reversing into a parallel parking space", "driving forward into a perpendicular parking space", "driving forward into a parallel parking space" and "driving forward into an oblique parking space" are defined and at least the following criteria are used to describe the parking scenarios, each parking scenario comprising a typical parking scenario selection of the criteria: bounding objects of a parking space, depth of the parking space, width of the parking space, background objects, objects in the environment of the motor vehicle, objects in a parking space, turning of the vehicle, orientation of the bounding objects and history including assessment of the earlier parking scenarios, wherein the parking scenarios are assessed by evaluating the individual criteria of each parking scenario, the individual evaluations being combined to form a classification of each parking scenario. determining data relating to the environment of the motor vehicle using an environment sensor system of the motor vehicle, determining parking-space-specific parameters from the environment data, checking the criteria of each parking scenario using the parking-space-specific parameters, and classifying each parking scenario using the criteria which have been checked, characterized in that at least the following scenarios: "reversing into a perpendicular parking space", "reversing into a parallel parking space", "driving forward into a perpendicular parking space", "driving forward into a parallel parking space" and "driving forward into an oblique parking space" are defined and at least the following criteria are used to describe the parking scenarios, each parking scenario comprising a typical parking scenario selection of the criteria: bounding objects of a parking space, depth of the parking space, width of the parking space, background objects, objects in the environment of the motor vehicle, objects in a parking space, turning of the vehicle, orientation of the bounding objects and history including assessment of the earlier parking scenarios, wherein the parking scenarios are assessed by evaluating the individual criteria of each parking scenario, the individual evaluations being combined to form a classification of each parking scenario. bounding objects of a parking space, depth of the parking space, width of the parking space, background objects, objects in the environment of the motor vehicle, objects in a parking space, turning of the vehicle, orientation of the bounding objects and history including assessment of the earlier parking scenarios, wherein the parking scenarios are assessed by evaluating the individual criteria of each parking scenario, the individual evaluations being combined to form a classification of each parking scenario.