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Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört, deshalb frage ich besonders die Stillen nach ihrer Meinung.

Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört, deshalb frage ich besonders die Stillen nach ihrer Meinung.
Sometimes the quiet ones feel ignored, so I especially ask the quiet ones for their opinion.

Breakdown of Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört, deshalb frage ich besonders die Stillen nach ihrer Meinung.

ich
I
manchmal
sometimes
deshalb
therefore
besonders
especially
fühlen
to feel
fragen
to ask
die Meinung
the opinion
nach
for
sich
themselves
ihr
their
die Stillen
the quiet ones
überhört
ignored
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Questions & Answers about Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört, deshalb frage ich besonders die Stillen nach ihrer Meinung.

Why is Stillen capitalized here, and why does it have the ending -en?

Stillen comes from the adjective still (“quiet”), but here it is being used as a noun: die Stillen = “the quiet ones”.

In German, adjectives can be “substantivized” (turned into nouns) when you put an article in front and write them with a capital letter:

  • die Alten – the old people
  • die Kleinen – the little ones
  • die Stillen – the quiet ones

Because die is a definite article and the word is plural, the adjective takes the weak ending -en:

  • Singular: der Stille (the quiet one – male), die Stille (the quiet one – female)
  • Plural: die Stillen (the quiet ones – any gender)

So: capital S = noun, and -en is the correct plural adjective ending after die.

Is Stillen here related to the verb stillen (“to breastfeed” / “to satisfy”)? How can I tell the difference?

No, in this sentence Stillen is not the verb “to breastfeed/satisfy”; it is the noun “the quiet ones”.

You can tell by:

  1. Capital letter

    • Stillen (capital S) = noun (“the quiet ones”)
    • stillen (lowercase s) = verb (“to breastfeed” / “to satisfy a need”)

  2. Position and form

    • Here it appears as die Stillen, with an article (die) and an adjective ending (-en) – that’s typical for a noun phrase.
    • A finite verb would appear in second position as the main verb, e.g. ich stille (I breastfeed / I satisfy).

So in this sentence, only the adjective-based noun die Stillen (“the quiet ones”) makes sense.

Why is it fühlen sich and not just fühlen? What is the role of sich in fühlen sich überhört?

Here fühlen is used reflexively: sich fühlen + adjective/participle = “to feel (in a certain way)”.

Pattern:

  • sich fühlen
    • adjective/participle
      • Ich fühle mich krank. – I feel ill.
      • Sie fühlt sich müde. – She feels tired.
      • Sie fühlen sich überhört. – They feel (that they are) ignored / not listened to.

Without sich, fühlen usually means either:

  • to feel something physically: Ich fühle den Schmerz – I feel the pain.
  • to touch/feel something with your hands: Ich fühle das Material – I feel the fabric.

So:

  • Sie fühlen sich überhört. = They feel ignored.
  • Sie fühlen den Lärm. = They feel the noise (e.g. as vibrations).

The reflexive pronoun sich is needed to express “they feel (themselves) in this state”.

What does überhört mean here? Isn’t that like English “overheard”?

This is a classic false friend.

  • English “to overhear” = to hear something accidentally, without intending to listen.

    • German for that: etwas zufällig mithören, etwas mit anhören.

  • German überhören = literally “to (not) hear something”, often in the sense of:

    • not noticing what someone says
    • or (more often) ignoring what someone says / not paying attention.

In sich überhört fühlen, the idea is:

  • sich überhört fühlen = to feel that one’s voice is not heard / is ignored.

So “fühlen sich überhört” is better translated as:

  • “feel ignored / feel not listened to” not
  • “feel overheard” (that would be wrong here).
Why is the word order Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört and not Manchmal die Stillen fühlen sich überhört?

German follows a verb-second (V2) rule in main clauses:

  1. Exactly one element comes first (the “Vorfeld”).
  2. Then the finite verb must be in second position.
  3. The rest follows.

In the sentence:

  • Manchmal = first element (time adverb)
  • fühlen = finite verb in 2nd position
  • sich die Stillen überhört = the rest of the clause

So: Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört. is the normal V2 word order.

You can say Manchmal fühlen die Stillen sich überhört.
Here it’s still verb-second: Manchmal (1st) – fühlen (2nd) – everything else after.

Manchmal die Stillen fühlen sich überhört is wrong, because then you’d have:

  • Manchmal (1st element)
  • die Stillen (2nd element)
  • fühlen (3rd element) → the finite verb is no longer in 2nd position.

So the verb must stay in 2nd place:
Manchmal fühlen …, not Manchmal die Stillen fühlen …

What does deshalb do in the sentence, and why is there a comma before it?

The sentence has two main clauses:

  1. Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört,
  2. deshalb frage ich besonders die Stillen nach ihrer Meinung.

deshalb means “therefore / that’s why”. It is a conjunctive adverb that connects the second clause logically to the first.

Two important points:

  1. Comma
    In German, two main clauses must be separated by a comma, even if they are only linked by an adverb like deshalb.
    So the comma is obligatory:

    • …, deshalb …

  2. Word order after deshalb
    deshalb often goes into first position of the new clause and then triggers verb-second word order:

    • Deshalb frage ich … (deshalb = first element, frage = 2nd position)

Compare:

  • Ich höre sie oft nicht; deshalb fühlen sie sich überhört.
  • Ich höre sie oft nicht, deshalb fühlen sie sich überhört.

Both are correct; the sentence in your example just uses the comma.

What is the role of besonders in frage ich besonders die Stillen?

besonders is an adverb meaning “especially / particularly”.

In deshalb frage ich besonders die Stillen nach ihrer Meinung, it modifies “die Stillen”. The meaning is:

  • “That’s why I especially ask the quiet ones for their opinion.”
    (i.e. I make a special effort to ask them.)

Word order nuance:

  • frage ich besonders die Stillen …
    → focus on who is special: especially the quiet ones are asked.

  • frage ich die Stillen besonders …
    → can suggest you ask the quiet ones in an especially intense/particular way.

Both are grammatically possible, but the version with besonders directly before die Stillen works very clearly as “especially the quiet ones”.

Why is it nach ihrer Meinung and not just ihre Meinung or something like frage ich die Stillen ihre Meinung?

The verb fragen works differently in German than “to ask” in English.

Patterns:

  • jdn fragen = to ask someone
  • jdn nach etw fragen = to ask someone about something / for something

So in your sentence:

  • ich frage – I ask
  • (wen?) die Stillen – I ask the quiet ones (accusative)
  • (wonach?) nach ihrer Meinung – about their opinion (dative after nach)

Literal structure:
jemanden (Akk.) nach etwas (Dat.) fragen

About ihrer:

  • Meinung is feminine singular.
  • nach takes dative, so nach ihrer Meinung is dative feminine singular.
  • ihrer here means “their”, agreeing with Meinung in case, number, and gender, even though the owners (die Stillen) are plural.

Compare forms:

  • Nominative: ihre Meinung – their opinion
  • Dative: nach ihrer Meinung – about their opinion

So frage ich besonders die Stillen nach ihrer Meinung is exactly “I especially ask the quiet ones for their opinion.”

Why does the sentence repeat die Stillen instead of using sie in the second clause?

You could say:

  • Manchmal fühlen sich die Stillen überhört, deshalb frage ich sie besonders nach ihrer Meinung.

This is grammatically correct; sie would refer back to die Stillen.

However, repeating die Stillen:

  • makes the reference crystal clear (no risk of confusion with another sie in a larger context),
  • and puts extra emphasis on this group.
    It almost sounds like: “the quiet ones … the quiet ones in particular …”

Stylistically, repetition can be used in German (and in English) to stress a point. The author wants to highlight exactly that group, so repeating die Stillen underlines the focus:

  • “Sometimes the quiet ones feel ignored, so I especially ask the quiet ones for their opinion.”
Could you rephrase die Stillen in a more “normal” way, and does it sound formal or informal?

You can definitely rephrase die Stillen with a more explicit noun:

  • die stillen Menschen – the quiet people
  • die ruhigen Leute – the calm/quiet people
  • die eher Leisen – the rather quiet ones (still a substantivized adjective)

So the sentence could become:

  • Manchmal fühlen sich stille Menschen überhört, deshalb frage ich besonders die stillen Menschen nach ihrer Meinung.

This is slightly more neutral and less “label-like” than die Stillen.

As for register:

  • The original sentence is neutral to slightly informal, and very natural in spoken language or in a personal text (e.g. talking about group dynamics, teaching, meetings).
  • It would also be acceptable in many written contexts (blog post, article, a teacher’s comment), though in very formal writing you might prefer stille Menschen or zurückhaltende Personen instead of die Stillen.