Learn Hardcore German: Statt laut zu reden, nimmt sie ihre Gitarre und singt leise im Wohnzimmer. - Instead of talking loudly, she takes her guitar and sings quietly in the living room.

Statt laut zu reden = an infinitive phrase with zu
- verb (reden) introduced by statt.
German punctuation rules say that infinitive groups introduced by um, ohne, statt, anstatt, außer, als are normally separated by a comma.

So:

Statt laut zu reden, = Instead of speaking loudly,
nimmt sie ihre Gitarre und singt leise im Wohnzimmer. = she takes her guitar and sings quietly in the living room.

The comma marks the boundary between the “instead of …” phrase and the main action.

What exactly is statt here, and which case does it take?

Statt means instead of.

It can behave in two ways:

As a preposition before a noun:
- statt des Kaffees (genitive, more formal) – instead of the coffee
- statt dem Kaffee (dative, colloquial, often heard in speech)
The “correct” traditional case with a noun is genitive, but dative is common in everyday speech.
With a zu-infinitive, as in your sentence:
- statt laut zu reden – instead of speaking loudly

In this sentence, statt introduces an infinitive construction, not a noun, so the case question doesn’t directly arise. But if you replaced the infinitive with a noun, you’d normally use the genitive:
Statt lauter Worte nimmt sie ihre Gitarre.

Why is it zu reden and not something like sie laut redet?

German has two main options for “instead of …” constructions:

With zu + infinitive:
- Statt laut zu reden, nimmt sie …
  Literally: Instead of loud(ly) to talk, she …
With a subordinate clause with dass:
- Statt dass sie laut redet, nimmt sie ihre Gitarre und singt leise.

Both are correct. The zu + infinitive version is more compact and very common in written and spoken German.

You cannot use a finite verb directly after statt without dass:

❌ Statt sie laut redet, nimmt sie … → wrong.

Why is it statt laut zu reden and not statt laut reden?

In standard German, when you use statt with a verb, you need the zu + infinitive form:

✅ statt laut zu reden
❌ statt laut reden (ungrammatical in standard German)

The normal pattern is:

statt + (optional object/adverb) + zu + infinitive

Examples:

statt zu schlafen – instead of sleeping
statt viel zu reden – instead of talking a lot
statt laut zu reden – instead of speaking loudly

Why is the word order nimmt sie and not sie nimmt?

Because of the verb-second rule in main clauses.

In a German main clause, the finite verb must be in second position, and “position” means logical slot, not word.

Here the first slot is filled by the whole phrase:

Statt laut zu reden = position 1

Therefore, the finite verb must come next:

nimmt = position 2

After that comes the subject:

sie

So we get:

Statt laut zu reden, (1) nimmt (2) sie (3) ihre Gitarre …

If you leave out the initial phrase, the order would be the usual:

Sie nimmt ihre Gitarre und singt leise im Wohnzimmer.

Why don’t we repeat sie before singt (why not nimmt sie ihre Gitarre und sie singt …)?

Because both verbs share the same subject.

The structure is:

nimmt sie ihre Gitarre
und singt leise im Wohnzimmer

The subject sie applies to both verbs: she takes and she sings.

In German (and in English), when two verbs are joined by und and have the same subject, you normally mention the subject only once:

Sie nimmt ihre Gitarre und singt leise.
= She takes her guitar and sings quietly.

You could say sie again:

Sie nimmt ihre Gitarre, und sie singt leise …

but that feels heavier and usually suggests a slight pause or emphasis on sie. In your sentence, leaving it out is more natural.

Why is it ihre Gitarre and not ihr Gitarre or ihrer Gitarre?

Gitarre is a feminine noun: die Gitarre.

In the sentence, Gitarre is the direct object of nimmt (What does she take? → her guitar), so it is in the accusative singular feminine.

The possessive ihr- (“her”) declines like the article ein. Feminine forms:

Nominative: ihre Gitarre – her guitar (as subject)
Accusative: ihre Gitarre – her guitar (as direct object)
Dative: ihrer Gitarre – to/for her guitar
Genitive: ihrer Gitarre – of her guitar

Since this is accusative feminine, the correct form is:

✅ ihre Gitarre

Forms like ihr Gitarre are ungrammatical; ihr without ending is not used with feminine singular nouns in this position.

Are laut and leise adjectives or adverbs here, and why don’t they have endings?

They are adjectives used adverbially, so they function as adverbs describing how she talks/sings.

In German:

When adjectives stand before a noun, they get endings:
- eine laute Stimme – a loud voice
- eine leise Melodie – a quiet/soft melody
When adjectives are used to describe a verb (adverbially), they usually do not get endings:
- laut reden – to speak loudly
- leise singen – to sing quietly

In your sentence:

laut zu reden – to speak loudly
singt leise im Wohnzimmer – sings quietly in the living room

So laut and leise are in their basic form because they are not directly modifying a noun.

Can we use sprechen instead of reden? What’s the difference?

You could say Statt laut zu sprechen; it’s grammatically fine. The nuance:

reden
- Slightly more informal/colloquial.
- Often means “to talk/chat” (more about the act of talking, sometimes longer, more personal).
sprechen
- Slightly more neutral or formal.
- Often used for the ability to speak, languages, giving a speech, etc.
- Deutsch sprechen, vor Publikum sprechen.

In this context (someone talking loudly), reden fits well and sounds natural and everyday. sprechen would sound a bit more neutral or careful, but still correct:

Statt laut zu reden / statt laut zu sprechen – both understandable and acceptable.

Why is it im Wohnzimmer and not ins Wohnzimmer?

The choice depends on whether the verb expresses location (where?) or movement (where to?):

im Wohnzimmer = in dem Wohnzimmer (dative) → location, “in the living room”
ins Wohnzimmer = in das Wohnzimmer (accusative) → movement towards, “into the living room”

Your sentence describes where she sings, not where she is going:

She sings in the living room → im Wohnzimmer (dative, location)

If the sentence described movement, you’d use ins:

Sie geht ins Wohnzimmer. – She goes into the living room.

Why is the word order singt leise im Wohnzimmer and not singt im Wohnzimmer leise?

Both orders are grammatically possible, but they have slightly different typicality and emphasis.

A common word-order rule is often taught as TeKaMoLo:

Temporal (when?)
Kausal (why?)
Modal (how?)
Lokal (where?)

In your sentence:

leise = manner (Modal)
im Wohnzimmer = place (Lokal)

So the “default” order is:

singt leise im Wohnzimmer (Mo–Lo), which fits the rule.

If you say:

singt im Wohnzimmer leise

you slightly emphasize the place by mentioning it earlier, and leise gets more “end position” emphasis. It can still be fine, but singt leise im Wohnzimmer sounds more neutral and standard.

Could we use anstatt instead of statt here? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Anstatt laut zu reden, nimmt sie ihre Gitarre und singt leise im Wohnzimmer.

statt and anstatt are largely interchangeable in modern German.

Nuances:

statt
- More common, especially in speech.
- Slightly shorter and lighter.
anstatt
- Slightly more formal or literary in tone.
- More often seen in writing.

Grammatically, both can be used with nouns (statt des Kaffees / anstatt des Kaffees) and with zu-infinitives (statt zu reden / anstatt zu reden).

Can the statt phrase also come at the end of the sentence?

Yes. You can move the statt + infinitive group to the end:

Sie nimmt ihre Gitarre und singt leise im Wohnzimmer, statt laut zu reden.

The meaning stays the same: she chooses singing softly with the guitar in the living room instead of talking loudly.

Differences:

Statt laut zu reden, nimmt sie …
- The contrast (“instead of speaking loudly”) is highlighted first.
…, statt laut zu reden.
- The alternative comes as an afterthought, often sounding a bit more relaxed.

Both word orders are natural and correct.