Learn Hardcore German: Unsere Freundschaft fühlt sich besonders stark an, wenn wir in solchen Nächten zusammenhalten. - Our friendship feels especially strong when we stick together on such nights.

German possessive determiners (mein, dein, sein, unser, etc.) change their endings according to the gender, number, and case of the noun they describe.

Freundschaft is:
- feminine (die Freundschaft),
- singular,
- in the nominative case here (it’s the subject of the sentence).

For a feminine noun in the nominative, unser takes the ending -e:

unser + feminine nominative → unsere Freundschaft

If it were a masculine nominative noun, you’d usually see no ending, e.g. unser Freund (our friend, masculine).

What is the difference between Freundschaft and Freunde?

Freundschaft = friendship (an abstract concept, singular, feminine)
- unsere Freundschaft = our friendship
Freunde = friends (plural of Freund, “friend”)
- unsere Freunde = our friends

So the sentence is talking about the quality of the relationship (friendship), not about the friends as people.

Why do we say fühlt sich … an instead of just fühlt?

fühlen on its own means “to feel” in the sense of perceiving or touching something, or feeling an emotion:

Ich fühle Freude. – I feel joy.
Ich fühle den Stoff. – I feel the fabric.

But sich anfühlen is a reflexive separable verb that means “to feel” in the sense of “to have a certain quality/feel”:

Das fühlt sich gut an. – That feels good.
Unsere Freundschaft fühlt sich stark an. – Our friendship feels strong.

So fühlt sich … an is required here to express “feels (in this way)”, not “feels (actively senses)”.

What exactly is going on grammatically with fühlt sich … an?

It comes from the verb sich anfühlen:

anfühlen is a separable verb (an- is the prefix).
sich is a reflexive pronoun (here in the 3rd person singular).

In the present tense, main clause word order:

Unsere Freundschaft (subject, 3rd person singular)
fühlt (finite verb, 3rd person singular)
sich (reflexive pronoun)
… besonders stark …
an (separable prefix at the end)

So: Unsere Freundschaft fühlt sich besonders stark an.

In the infinitive form you keep it together: sich anfühlen
In a past participle: es hat sich stark angefühlt (an- + gefühlt = angefühlt)

What does besonders stark mean, and why is that word order used?

stark = strong
besonders = especially, particularly

Together: besonders stark = especially/particularly strong.

Word order:

besonders is an adverb modifying stark.
In German, adverbs that modify adjectives usually come before the adjective:
- sehr stark – very strong
- außerordentlich wichtig – extraordinarily important
- besonders stark – especially strong

So besonders stark is the normal and natural order.

What is the difference between besonders stark and sehr stark?

Both intensify stark, but there’s a nuance:

sehr stark = very strong
→ mainly a degree/intensity: simply “a lot” of strength.
besonders stark = especially / particularly strong
→ suggests that compared to other times or situations, it’s strong in a special way.

In this sentence, besonders stark fits well because the second clause talks about “when we stick together on nights like these” – in these specific situations, the friendship feels especially strong.

How does wenn affect the word order in wenn wir in solchen Nächten zusammenhalten?

wenn introduces a subordinate clause (Nebensatz). In German subordinate clauses:

The finite verb goes to the end of the clause.

So:

Main clause word order:
Wir halten in solchen Nächten zusammen.
(wir – halten – … – zusammen)
With wenn as a subordinating conjunction:
wenn wir in solchen Nächten zusammenhalten
(wenn – wir – … – zusammenhalten at the end)

In the full sentence, the structure is:

Main clause: Unsere Freundschaft fühlt sich besonders stark an,
Subordinate clause: wenn wir in solchen Nächten zusammenhalten.

That’s why zusammenhalten appears as one word at the end.

Why is there a comma before wenn?

In German, you must put a comma before most subordinate clauses, including those introduced by wenn.

…, wenn wir in solchen Nächten zusammenhalten.

This comma clearly separates the main clause (Unsere Freundschaft fühlt sich besonders stark an) from the subordinate clause (wenn wir … zusammenhalten).

Unlike English, where the comma is sometimes optional, in this kind of German sentence the comma is obligatory.

Why is it in solchen Nächten and not in solche Nächte?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative:

dative → location / where? (Wo?)
accusative → direction / movement into (Wohin?)

Here we are talking about time/occasion (“on nights like these”), not movement, so dative is used.

Nächten is dative plural of die Nacht:
- Nominative plural: die Nächte
- Dative plural: den Nächten (article) / Nächten (noun form)
solchen is the dative plural form of solch- (“such”) before a noun:
- in + dative plural → in solchen Nächten

in solche Nächte (accusative) would have the sense of into such nights, implying movement, which does not fit here.

What case and endings are used in solchen Nächten, and why?

in solchen Nächten uses the dative plural:

The preposition in → here: dative (time / “in these nights”).
Nächte (plural of Nacht) → dative plural = Nächten.
solchen is the adjective/determiner solch- in dative plural → -en ending.

Pattern: for any dative plural noun, attributive adjectives/determiners almost always end in -en:

mit guten Freunden – with good friends
auf kleinen Inseln – on small islands
in solchen Nächten – in such nights / on nights like these

Why is it zusammenhalten (one word) at the end, and not halten zusammen?

zusammenhalten is a separable verb:

Infinitive: zusammenhalten
In a main clause, the prefix separates and usually goes to the end:
- Wir halten zusammen.

But in a subordinate clause where the finite verb moves to the end, the prefix rejoins the verb:

wenn wir zusammenhalten (subordinate clause)
weil wir immer zusammenhalten

So:

Main clause: Wir halten zusammen.
Subordinate clause: wenn wir zusammenhalten

At the very end of the subordinate clause, verb + prefix appear as one word again.

What does zusammenhalten mean exactly in this context?

Literally, zusammenhalten can mean “to hold together” (physically).
Figuratively, when used with people, it means:

stick together
support each other
stand by each other

In this sentence:

wenn wir in solchen Nächten zusammenhalten
→ “when we stick together / support each other on nights like these”

You don’t need an extra phrase like einander (“each other”); the meaning of mutual support is already built into zusammenhalten here.

Could we change the word order to Besonders stark fühlt sich unsere Freundschaft an, wenn …?

Yes, that is grammatically correct and sounds natural:

Besonders stark fühlt sich unsere Freundschaft an, wenn wir in solchen Nächten zusammenhalten.

German allows flexible word order in the main clause. By moving besonders stark to the front, you:

put extra emphasis on how strong the friendship feels,
but the basic meaning stays the same.

The key rules still hold:

Finite verb in 2nd position in the main clause (fühlt is 2nd element).
Separable prefix an at the end of the main clause.
Subordinate clause with wenn has the finite verb (zusammenhalten) at the end.