A method for operating an internal combustion engine for a motor vehicle, in which a first signal is determined, which characterizes a torque of the internal combustion engine. In order to provide a method for operating an internal combustion engine for a motor vehicle in which a torque of the internal combustion engine is determined even more precisely, in particular in the region of a zero crossing of the torque, a second signal, which characterizes a state variable of the internal combustion engine and/or the motor vehicle that differs from the torque is determined from the first signal, at least one third signal is recorded, which characterizes a measured value of the state variable, the second signal and the third signal are compared to one another, and the first signal is corrected on the basis of the comparison.