A method is specified for operating a rotating electrical machine, in which the rotating electrical machine is connected in terms of phase to a converter circuit, having a DC voltage circuit, for connecting at least two voltage levels, and the phases of the converter circuit are connected to the DC voltage circuit in accordance with a selected switching state combination of switching states for power semiconductor switches in the converter circuit. In order to reduce the switching frequency of the power semiconductor switches, a prediction is made of the further behavior of the overall system and according to this prediction, the optimum switching state combination is selected starting from the preceding selected switching state combination and with respect to the number of transitions from the preceding selected switching state combination to the selected switching state combination and with respect to the respective predetermined value range for the torque of the rotating electrical machine, for the magnetic stator flux of the rotating electrical machine and for the potential at the subconnection.