In a method and device for operating an internal combustion engine having an adjustable component through which a gas flows and by whose setting the gas flowing through the component is influenced, at least one first value representative of a flow-through area of the component is determined in accordance with a first model as a function of a triggering signal of the component, at least one second value representative of the flow-through area of the component is determined in accordance with a second model as a function of at least one performance quantity of the internal combustion engine different from the triggering signal, and a resulting value is formed for the flow-through area as a mean of the at least one first value and the at least one second value.