Question 1

Why do we use die instead of sie to mean 'they' in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

This sentence uses a spoken grammar structure called left dislocation. We pull the topic (Diese neuen Ohrstöpsel) to the very front for emphasis, and then immediately resume it with a demonstrative pronoun, which is die here. In spoken German, demonstrative pronouns like der, die, and das are used much more often than personal pronouns like sie to point back to something just mentioned.

Question 2

Do Diese neuen Ohrstöpsel and the pronoun die need to be in a specific case?

Accepted Answer

Yes, they must be in the same case, which is determined by their role in the main clause. Since the earplugs are doing the bothering, they are the subject of the verb nerven. Therefore, both the left-dislocated noun phrase (Diese neuen Ohrstöpsel) and the resuming pronoun (die) are in the nominative case.

Question 3

Why is the ending on the adjective neuen instead of neue?

Accepted Answer

The word Diese acts like a definite article (a der-word). In the plural, adjectives following a der-word take the weak ending -en in all cases. If there were no article, it would take the strong ending, as in Neue Ohrstöpsel.

Question 4

Why is Schlafen capitalized and what exactly does beim mean here?

Accepted Answer

Schlafen is capitalized because the verb has been turned into a noun, a process called nominalization. beim is a contraction of bei and dem. In German, combining beim with a nominalized infinitive is the most natural way to express doing something 'while' engaged in an action, which literally translates to 'at the sleeping'.

Diese neuen Ohrstöpsel, die nerven mich beim Schlafen.

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