Learn Hardcore German: Die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit war stiller als die laute Stadt heute. - The landscape in my childhood was calmer than the loud city today.

Die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit war stiller als die laute Stadt heute.

The landscape in my childhood was calmer than the loud city today.

Breakdown of Die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit war stiller als die laute Stadt heute.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching German grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning German now

Questions & Answers about Die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit war stiller als die laute Stadt heute.

Why is it stiller and not mehr still?

In German, most adjectives form the comparative by adding -er, not by using mehr:

still → stiller
laut → lauter
schnell → schneller

mehr is only used:

with some adjectives that don’t form a normal comparative (e.g. mehr blau, mehr tot als lebendig), or
for emphasis in some stylistic contexts.

So stiller als is the regular, natural comparative of still.
mehr still als would sound unnatural in standard German here.

Why do we use als and not wie after stiller?

In standard German:

For inequality (more/less … than), use als
- stiller als = quieter than
- größer als = bigger than
For equality (as … as), use wie
- so still wie = as quiet as
- genauso laut wie = just as loud as

So stiller als die laute Stadt heute follows the rule: > comparative (-er) + als = “more … than”

Why does stiller have no ending, but laute does?

Because they play different grammatical roles:

stiller is a predicative adjective after the verb war (was):
- Die Landschaft … war stiller …
  Predicative adjectives in German do not take endings.
laute is an attributive adjective directly before a noun:
- die laute Stadt
  Here the adjective must agree with the noun (gender, number, case, article).
- die = feminine nominative singular definite article
- so laut → laute

So:

after sein/war/ist: stiller (no extra ending)
before Stadt with die: laute (with -e).

What case is meiner Kindheit, and why is it dative?

Kindheit is feminine: die Kindheit.

The preposition in can take:

dative = location / time (“in, during”)
accusative = movement into something (“into”)

Here, in meiner Kindheit means “during my childhood”, which is a time expression, so dative is required.

Dative singular feminine of die Kindheit is der Kindheit.
With the possessive mein-, you copy the dative ending:

in der Kindheit → in meiner Kindheit (dative feminine singular)

Could I also say Die Landschaft meiner Kindheit instead of Die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly:

Die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit
Focus on the time period: the landscape during the years when you were a child.
Die Landschaft meiner Kindheit
Genitive construction “the landscape of my childhood” – more like “the landscape that belongs to / is associated with my childhood”, often a bit more poetic or literary.

Both are correct; in everyday speech, in meiner Kindheit is very common and sounds a bit more neutral.

What exactly does heute refer to, and why is it at the end?

In … als die laute Stadt heute, heute most naturally attaches to die laute Stadt:

die laute Stadt heute ≈ the city as it is today / today’s loud city

German often puts short adverbs like heute toward the end when they belong to the last noun phrase or the whole comparison.

You could also say:

… als die laute Stadt von heute (more explicit “of today”)
… als die heutige laute Stadt (“today’s loud city”, more formal/poetic)

If you moved heute to the very front of the sentence:

Heute ist die Stadt lauter als die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit.

then heute clearly refers to the time of the whole situation, not just to Stadt.
In the original, heute most strongly characterizes die Stadt.

What case is die laute Stadt, and why is it die?

Underlying structure:

Die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit war stiller, als die laute Stadt heute (ist).

So after als, there is an implied clause:

subject: die laute Stadt heute (nominative)
verb: ist (omitted)

Therefore Stadt is in the nominative as the subject of that implied second clause, and we use die (feminine nominative singular).

It is not an object of the comparison.
In German, after als in such comparisons you usually see the same case you would have in the full clause:

Er ist größer als sein Bruder (ist).
→ sein Bruder is nominative (subject), not accusative.

Is als here a conjunction or a preposition?

Here als is a conjunction introducing a (reduced) clause of comparison:

… war stiller, als [die laute Stadt heute ist].

The verb ist is simply left out because it’s obvious and would sound heavy.

This is different from als as a preposition meaning “as (in the role of)”:

Er arbeitet als Lehrer. – He works as a teacher.
Sie spricht als Expertin. – She speaks as an expert.

So in this sentence, als functions like “than” in English and links two clauses of comparison.

Could I reverse the comparison and start from the city instead of the landscape?

Yes, you can turn it around. For example:

Die Stadt heute ist lauter als die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit (es war).
Heute ist die Stadt lauter als die Landschaft in meiner Kindheit.

The structure is symmetrical:

original: Landschaft … war stiller als Stadt heute
reversed: Stadt heute ist lauter als Landschaft damals

Often, the final es war / sie war in the second part is omitted because it’s clear from context.

Does still in German mean “quiet” or “not moving” like English still?

German still mainly means:

quiet / silent – little or no noise
- Es ist ganz still hier. – It’s completely quiet here.
calm / peaceful – atmosphere without much activity
- eine stille Landschaft – a peaceful/quiet landscape

It does not usually mean “still” in the sense of “yet / up to now” (still as an adverb) – that is noch in German:

Er ist noch hier. – He is still here.

For “not moving” you might say bewegungslos, ruhig, or use a verb:

Er steht ganz still. – He stands completely still (here still is also used, but it is close to “not moving quietly”).

In this sentence, stiller clearly means quieter, more peaceful, not “more motionless”.