Breakdown of Im Vergleich zu meinem alten Auto ist dieses sehr leise.
sein
to be
sehr
very
das Auto
the car
alt
old
mein
my
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
leise
quiet / quietly
im Vergleich zu
compared to
Questions & Answers about Im Vergleich zu meinem alten Auto ist dieses sehr leise.
Why does ist come before the subject dieses?
In German, the conjugated verb must be in the second position of a regular main clause. The entire phrase Im Vergleich zu meinem alten Auto takes up the first position. So, the verb ist comes immediately after it, pushing the subject dieses to the third position.
Why do we say meinem alten Auto here?
The phrase im Vergleich zu (compared to) ends with the preposition zu, which always forces the following noun into the dative case. Since Auto is a neuter noun, its dative form after mein is meinem alten Auto.
Why does the adjective alten end in -en instead of -em?
In the dative case, once the article does the heavy lifting of showing the case (the -em on meinem), any adjective that follows gets the default -en ending. You rarely need two strong endings in a row!
What exactly does dieses refer to, and why does it have an -es ending?
Dieses means 'this one' and acts as a pronoun replacing dieses Auto. Because it is the subject of the sentence (nominative case) and refers to a neuter noun (das Auto), it needs the neuter nominative ending -es.
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