Learn Hardcore German: Die Stadt fördert kleine Projekte im Viertel. - The city promotes small projects in the neighborhood.

Fördert comes from fördern, which generally means to promote / to support / to foster.
In this context, it usually implies active support, often financial or organizational, for projects.

fördern – broad: promote, foster, encourage, support (can be money, help, policy, etc.)
unterstützen – more like to help / to support (practical or moral support)
finanzieren – specifically to finance / to fund (only money)

So Die Stadt fördert kleine Projekte suggests more than just moral support; it often implies grants, programs, or other structured help.

Why is it Die Stadt and not Der Stadt?

The noun Stadt is feminine: die Stadt.
In this sentence, Die Stadt is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.

Feminine nominative singular: die Stadt
Feminine dative singular: der Stadt
Feminine genitive singular: der Stadt

You would see der Stadt for example in:

in der Stadt – in the city (dative)
wegen der Stadt – because of the city (genitive)

Here, however, the city is doing the action (it supports), so we need nominative: die Stadt.

Why is Stadt capitalized? And why is Viertel capitalized too?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, no matter where they appear in the sentence.

die Stadt – the city (noun → capitalized)
das Viertel – the district / neighborhood / quarter (noun → capitalized)

Adjectives and verbs are not capitalized unless they start the sentence or are turned into nouns (e.g. das Gute). So kleine and fördert stay lowercase.

Why is there no article before kleine Projekte? Why not die kleinen Projekte or kleine die Projekte?

Projekte here is indefinite plural – we’re talking about some small projects in general, not specific ones already known.

In German:

Plural with no article can mean some in English:
- Die Stadt fördert kleine Projekte.
  → The city supports small projects. (some, in general)

If you say die kleinen Projekte, you’re referring to specific, known projects:

Die Stadt fördert die kleinen Projekte im Viertel.
→ The city supports the small projects in the neighborhood (probably ones we already talked about).

So the version without an article is more general.

Why is it kleine Projekte and not kleinen Projekte or kleiner Projekte?

The form kleine is determined by:

Case: accusative (direct object of fördert)
Number: plural
Article: no article in front

For adjectives before plural nouns without an article, the ending in the accusative plural is -e:

kleine Projekte – small projects (accusative plural, no article)

Compare:

die kleinen Projekte – accusative plural with definite article → adjective takes -en
keine kleinen Projekte – with keine → adjective also -en

So here, kleine is the correct strong ending for plural without an article.

Which case is Projekte in, and why?

Projekte is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb fördert.

Wer fördert? – Die Stadt (subject, nominative)
Was fördert die Stadt? – kleine Projekte (direct object, accusative)

In the plural, the form of Projekte looks the same in nominative and accusative, but the function in the sentence shows it is accusative.

What is im exactly? Why not just in?

Im is a contraction of in + dem.

in – in
dem – the (dative, masculine or neuter singular)
in dem Viertel → im Viertel

So im Viertel literally means in the district / in the neighborhood.
Because Viertel is neuter (das Viertel), in with a static location uses the dative → in dem Viertel → im Viertel.

Why is the case after in dative here? Could it be accusative instead?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:

Dative → location (where?)
Accusative → direction (where to?)

In our sentence, im Viertel expresses a place where the projects are happening, not movement:

Die Stadt fördert kleine Projekte im Viertel.
→ The city supports small projects in the neighborhood. (location → dative)

If you were talking about movement towards the quarter, you’d use accusative:

Die Stadt bringt mehr Angebote ins Viertel.
→ …into the neighborhood. (in das Viertel → ins Viertel, accusative)

Can I also say in dem Viertel instead of im Viertel?

Yes, in dem Viertel is grammatically correct and means the same thing.

Differences:

im Viertel – more common and natural in everyday speech and writing.
in dem Viertel – a bit more explicit or emphatic, can sound slightly more formal or contrastive, depending on context.

In most cases, natives would automatically use im Viertel.

What exactly does Viertel mean here? Is it like English quarter?

Yes, das Viertel literally means quarter, and in this context it is used for a part of a city:

das Viertel – district / neighborhood / quarter (of a town)

Other related words:

der Bezirk – district (more administrative/official)
die Nachbarschaft – neighborhood (more social, your immediate area)
die Gegend – area, region (more general)

In city context, Viertel is very common: Studentenviertel, Altstadtviertel, Szeneviertel, etc.

What tense is fördert? Could it also mean “is supporting” like in English?

Fördert is present tense, 3rd person singular of fördern:

er/sie/es fördert – he/she/it supports

German present tense covers both simple present and present progressive in English:

Die Stadt fördert kleine Projekte.
→ The city supports small projects.
→ The city is supporting small projects.

So the same German form can correspond to both English forms, depending on context.

How is fördert pronounced, especially the ö?

Pronunciation tips:

ö – like the vowel in British English “bird” or “hurt”, but with rounded lips.
fördert – roughly: FÖR-dert
- för – like fur in British English, but round your lips
- dert – dert with a light t at the end

The r in för- is often a bit softer in many accents, especially in the middle of words.

How is Viertel pronounced? The ie and the r confuse me.

Viertel is pronounced roughly like FEER-tel:

V – like English f
ie – long i sound, like “ee” in “see”
r – often soft, especially in many standard accents
tel – like “tell” but shorter and less stressed

So: Viertel → [ˈfiːɐ̯tl̩], but you can aim for FEER-tel as a learner and be understood.

Could I change the word order, for example: Im Viertel fördert die Stadt kleine Projekte?

Yes, that is correct German, and it is a natural variation:

Im Viertel fördert die Stadt kleine Projekte.

Here, Im Viertel is moved to the beginning for emphasis on the place.
The verb fördert must still be in second position, and die Stadt follows it.

However, be careful with:

Die Stadt im Viertel fördert kleine Projekte.

This sounds like “the city in the neighborhood supports small projects”, as if there are several cities and you’re specifying the one that is in that neighborhood. That’s a different meaning, so the original order is better for the original meaning.