Breakdown of In meiner Jugend war die Stadt stiller als heute.
Questions & Answers about In meiner Jugend war die Stadt stiller als heute.
Because in here is a preposition of time (during my youth), and in that temporal meaning it normally takes the dative case.
- Jugend is feminine: die Jugend.
- Feminine dative singular is der, so with the possessive mein- it becomes meiner.
So:
- in + dative for “in/during a period of time”:
- in meiner Kindheit – in my childhood
- im Winter – in (the) winter
In meine Jugend would be accusative and would suggest motion into your youth as if it were a place, which doesn’t fit the meaning here.
Meiner is:
- Gender: feminine (because Jugend is feminine)
- Number: singular
- Case: dative
Full breakdown:
- Nominative: meine Jugend (my youth – as subject)
- Accusative: meine Jugend (my youth – as direct object)
- Dative: meiner Jugend (in my youth, with my youth, etc.)
- Genitive: meiner Jugend (because of my youth)
In the sentence, in governs the dative, so you get in meiner Jugend.
German main clauses follow a verb-second (V2) rule, not “subject-first.”
The first slot in the sentence can be almost anything (subject, time phrase, object, etc.). The conjugated verb must come second, and the rest follows.
Here:
- First element: In meiner Jugend (a time expression)
- Second element: war (the verb, in 2nd position)
- Then: die Stadt stiller als heute (subject + predicate)
A “more neutral” version with the subject first would be:
- Die Stadt war in meiner Jugend stiller als heute.
Both are correct; putting In meiner Jugend first just emphasizes the time frame.
War is the simple past (Präteritum) of sein.
In German:
- Written / more formal German often prefers Präteritum for sein and haben:
- Ich war dort. – I was there.
- Spoken German often uses Perfekt with most verbs:
- Ich habe gearbeitet. – I worked / have worked.
But sein is very commonly used in Präteritum even in speech:
- Die Stadt war stiller. (very normal)
- Die Stadt ist stiller gewesen. (correct, but sounds heavier / more formal or marked)
So war is the natural, idiomatic choice here.
Stiller is the comparative form of the adjective still.
- still – quiet, silent, still
- stiller – quieter, more quiet, more silent
Formation:
- Most one-syllable adjectives form the comparative with -er:
- kalt → kälter (with umlaut)
- groß → größer
- still → stiller (no umlaut)
Here stiller is a predicate adjective describing the subject die Stadt:
- Die Stadt war stiller. – The city was quieter.
No, mehr still is not idiomatic German.
For almost all simple adjectives, you must use the -er comparative:
- still → stiller (not mehr still)
- schnell → schneller (not mehr schnell)
- laut → lauter (not mehr laut)
Mehr is mainly used:
- with longer adjectives: interessant → interessanter / mehr interessant (but interessanter is usually preferred)
- with adverbs or participles where the -er form is uncommon.
For still, you should always say stiller.
Both can translate to quiet, but they have different typical uses and nuances:
- still
- Emphasizes silence, no noise, often very little movement.
- ein stiller Raum – a very quiet/silent room
- Sei still! – Be quiet! (stop talking / making noise)
- ruhig
- Emphasizes calmness, absence of disturbance, can be about mood, behavior, or atmosphere.
- ein ruhiger Mensch – a calm person
- eine ruhige Gegend – a quiet (peaceful) area (not busy)
In the sentence Die Stadt war stiller, the nuance is: there was less noise, the city was more silent.
You could also say ruhiger, but that leans slightly more toward “calmer / less hectic.” Both are possible; context decides which feels better.
German clearly distinguishes:
- als – for comparisons of inequality (more/less than)
- wie – for comparisons of equality (as … as)
Examples:
- größer als ich – taller than me
- so groß wie ich – as tall as me
In stiller als heute we’re saying quieter than today (not “as quiet as today”), so als is correct and wie would be wrong.
German often omits repeated words when they are clear from context, especially in comparisons.
Fuller versions would be:
- In meiner Jugend war die Stadt stiller als (sie) heute ist.
- In meiner Jugend war die Stadt stiller als sie es heute ist.
Here, die Stadt and ist are understood, so they don’t need to be repeated.
Stiller als heute is completely natural: “quieter than (it is) today.”
Die Stadt is the subject of the sentence.
Structure:
- In meiner Jugend – temporal prepositional phrase (dative)
- war – finite verb (simple past of sein)
- die Stadt – subject (nominative feminine singular)
- stiller als heute – predicate adjective + comparison phrase
If you put the subject first, it’s clearer:
- Die Stadt war in meiner Jugend stiller als heute.
Yes, that’s correct:
- Als ich jung war, war die Stadt stiller als heute.
Difference in nuance:
- In meiner Jugend focuses on the time period as an abstract phase of life (in my youth).
- Als ich jung war focuses more directly on you as a person being young (when I was young).
Both usually describe the same general time, but In meiner Jugend feels a bit more formal or narrative, while Als ich jung war is a bit more personal / direct.
No, In meiner Jugend war die Stadt heute stiller is wrong or at least very confusing, because it sounds like “In my youth, the city is quieter today,” mixing two time frames.
In stiller als heute, heute is part of the comparison phrase with als:
- stiller als heute – quieter than today
You could move the whole comparison phrase together, but not split it:
- Die Stadt war in meiner Jugend stiller als heute.
- In meiner Jugend war die Stadt stiller als heute.
But you can’t normally say:
- ✗ In meiner Jugend war die Stadt als heute stiller.
- ✗ In meiner Jugend war die Stadt heute stiller.
The comparison phrase stiller als heute should stay intact.
In this sentence, Jugend refers to a life period, not to young people as a group.
- meine Jugend – my youth (the period of my life when I was young)
Other uses:
- die Jugend von heute – the youth of today (young people)
- ein Zentrum für die Jugend – a center for young people
Context decides which meaning is intended. Here, because of In meiner Jugend, it clearly means during the years when I was young.