Learn Hardcore German: Mit etwas Geduld und Humor finden wir meistens einen Kompromiss. - With a bit of patience and humor we usually find a compromise.

All are correct; the meaning is essentially the same. Starting with Mit etwas Geduld und Humor puts extra emphasis on the conditions under which the compromise is found.

What does mit do here, and which case does it require?

mit means with and it always takes the dative case.

mit etwas Geduld → “with some patience”
mit Humor → “with humor”

You don’t see any case endings here because:

etwas is invariable (it doesn’t change form for case).
Geduld (feminine, no article) looks the same in nominative, accusative, and dative.
Humor (masculine, no article) also looks the same here without an article.

If you added articles, the dative would become visible:

mit der Geduld (with the patience – fem. dative)
mit dem Humor (with the humor – masc. dative)
mit meiner Geduld (with my patience – fem. dative)

So the structure is: mit + dative.

Why isn’t mit repeated before Humor? Why not mit etwas Geduld und mit Humor?

German often doesn’t repeat a preposition if it’s clearly shared by both parts of a list.

mit etwas Geduld und Humor
= mit etwas Geduld und (mit) Humor

You can repeat mit (→ mit etwas Geduld und mit Humor), and it is still correct. Repeating it can add a tiny bit of emphasis or clarity, but in this short phrase it isn’t necessary, so it’s normally dropped.

What exactly does etwas mean in etwas Geduld? Is it the same as ein bisschen Geduld?

Here etwas means some / a bit of / a little and modifies an uncountable noun (Geduld = patience).

mit etwas Geduld ≈ “with some patience” / “with a bit of patience”

Compared to ein bisschen:

mit etwas Geduld – neutral, slightly more formal or written; sounds compact and natural.
mit ein bisschen Geduld – very common in spoken German, feels a bit more colloquial and “soft”.

They are very close in meaning; in this sentence you could use either:

Mit etwas Geduld und Humor finden wir meistens einen Kompromiss.
Mit ein bisschen Geduld und Humor finden wir meistens einen Kompromiss.

Both are idiomatic.

Why is there no article before Geduld and Humor? Why not mit einer Geduld und einem Humor?

In German, abstract and uncountable nouns often appear without an article when you mean them in a general sense.

Geduld (patience) is uncountable and abstract.
Humor (humor) is also abstract here.

mit etwas Geduld und Humor means “with (some) patience and (some) humor in general” – not with specific, identifiable patience or humor.

If you added articles, it would sound unusual or overly specific:

mit einer Geduld – sounds strange; we don’t normally count “one unit of patience”.
mit einem Humor – this might work only in very specific contexts, often with an adjective:
- mit einem schwarzen Humor (“with a dark sense of humor”)
- Here the article + adjective describes a particular type of humor.

In the given generic, proverbial-like sentence, no article is natural and correct.

Why is Geduld singular? Is there a plural like Gedulden?

Geduld is an uncountable noun in German, like patience in English. It normally:

Has no plural (you don’t say Gedulden in standard German).
Appears only in the singular: die Geduld.

So you say:

Ich habe keine Geduld. – I have no patience.
Mit etwas Geduld schaffen wir das. – With some patience we can do it.

Even though the concept is “amount of patience,” German treats it grammatically as singular.

What does meistens mean here, and how is it different from meist or oft?

meistens means mostly / most of the time / usually and describes a frequency.

finden wir meistens einen Kompromiss
→ “we usually / most of the time find a compromise.”

Differences:

meistens – “most of the time”, “usually”; neutral and very common.
meist – can mean “mostly / for the most part”, sometimes more stylistic or literary; also used as an adjective (der größte Teil = der meiste Teil).
oft – “often”; frequent, but not necessarily “most of the time”.

Example contrasts:

Wir finden meistens einen Kompromiss.
→ In the majority of cases, we find one.
Wir finden oft einen Kompromiss.
→ We often find one, but not clearly “most of the time.”

In this sentence, meistens nicely expresses a regular, typical outcome.

Why is meistens placed between wir and einen Kompromiss? Could it go somewhere else?

Yes, meistens (an adverb) is quite flexible. The original word order is:

finden wir meistens einen Kompromiss

Other natural options:

finden wir einen Kompromiss meistens (less common; sounds slightly marked)
Wir finden meistens mit etwas Geduld und Humor einen Kompromiss.
Wir finden mit etwas Geduld und Humor meistens einen Kompromiss.

In general, adverbs of frequency like meistens:

Often sit after the subject and before the main object or other details:
- Wir meistens finden … – wrong (verb must be 2nd).
- Wir finden meistens einen Kompromiss. – good and natural.

So the given position is the standard, most natural one.

Why is it einen Kompromiss and not ein Kompromiss or der Kompromiss?

Kompromiss is masculine:

Nominative: der Kompromiss – subject
Accusative: den Kompromiss – direct object with definite article
Indefinite article:
- Nominative: ein Kompromiss
- Accusative: einen Kompromiss

In the sentence, Kompromiss is the direct object of finden, so it must be in the accusative.

Wir finden einen Kompromiss. – We find a compromise. (indefinite)
Wir finden den Kompromiss. – We find the compromise. (a specific one)

Because the sentence is talking about a compromise in general, not a specific one, the indefinite accusative einen Kompromiss is used.

Why is the verb finden in the present tense? Could this also refer to the future?

Yes, the present tense in German (like in English) is often used for:

General truths and habits
Regular or typical outcomes

So:

Wir finden meistens einen Kompromiss.
→ “We usually find a compromise.” (as a typical pattern)

If you specifically wanted to talk about the future, you could say:

Wir werden meistens einen Kompromiss finden.
→ “We will usually find a compromise.”

But in practice, German prefers the simple present for general or habitual statements, and context makes it clear that this is an ongoing, general tendency, not just one moment.

Is there a difference between Wir finden meistens einen Kompromiss and Wir einigen uns meistens auf einen Kompromiss?

Both can be translated as “We usually find a compromise,” but there’s a nuance:

Wir finden meistens einen Kompromiss.
- Literally: “We usually find a compromise.”
- Slightly more neutral; focuses on the outcome: a compromise is reached/found.
Wir einigen uns meistens auf einen Kompromiss.
- Literally: “We usually agree on a compromise.”
- Emphasizes the process of mutual agreement; that both sides actively agree.

In many contexts they are interchangeable, but einigen sich auf highlights the act of reaching agreement, whereas finden is a bit more general and idiomatic.

Why is there no comma in this sentence, even though it starts with a phrase?

German uses commas mainly to separate clauses (with their own subject + verb) or certain kinds of infinitive constructions, lists, etc.

Mit etwas Geduld und Humor is just a prepositional phrase, not a separate clause.
There is only one main clause:
- Subject: wir
- Verb: finden
- Rest: meistens einen Kompromiss

So no comma is required:

Mit etwas Geduld und Humor finden wir meistens einen Kompromiss.

If there were a second clause, you’d see a comma:

Mit etwas Geduld und Humor finden wir meistens einen Kompromiss, und alle sind zufrieden.