Learn Hardcore German: Manchmal habe ich Heimweh, obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag. - Sometimes I feel homesick, although I like my new city.

If you start with the subject:
- Ich habe manchmal Heimweh, …
- Subject = Ich (position 1), verb = habe (position 2)
If you start with an adverb like Manchmal:
- Manchmal habe ich Heimweh, …
- Adverb = Manchmal (position 1), verb = habe (position 2), subject = ich (position 3)

Both Manchmal habe ich Heimweh and Ich habe manchmal Heimweh are correct.
Putting Manchmal first gives it a little more emphasis (“at certain times I get homesick”).

What exactly does Heimweh mean, and do I need an article like ein Heimweh?

Heimweh is a noun that literally combines:

Heim = home, homeland
Weh = pain, ache

So it’s like “homesickness”.

Grammar points:

The grammatical gender is neuter: das Heimweh
In practice, it’s usually used without an article:
- Ich habe Heimweh. = I am homesick.
You normally don’t say ein Heimweh in everyday German.

Some useful patterns:

Heimweh haben – to feel homesick
- Manchmal habe ich Heimweh.
You can specify what you’re homesick for:
- Ich habe Heimweh nach meiner Familie.
- Ich habe Heimweh nach meinem Zuhause.

Why is it habe Heimweh and not something like bin Heimweh or fühle Heimweh?

In German, feeling homesick is expressed with the fixed expression Heimweh haben:

Ich habe Heimweh. = I’m homesick.

Using sein or fühlen here sounds wrong:

✗ Ich bin Heimweh. (incorrect)
✗ Ich fühle Heimweh. (unnatural)

You can, however, rephrase with other correct verbs:

Ich fühle mich einsam. – I feel lonely.
Ich vermisse meine Heimat. – I miss my home(land).

But if you use the word Heimweh, you almost always use haben.

Why is there a comma before obwohl, and why does the verb mag go at the very end of that part?

Obwohl is a subordinating conjunction (a Nebensatz conjunction). It introduces a subordinate clause, and in German that has two main consequences:

Comma is required before the subordinate clause:
- …, obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag.
In the subordinate clause, the conjugated verb goes to the end:
- subject: ich
- object: meine neue Stadt
- verb: mag (goes to the end)

Structure:

obwohl
- ich
  - meine neue Stadt
    - mag

Not correct in standard German:

✗ … obwohl ich mag meine neue Stadt.

So the sentence nicely shows:

Main clause (verb in 2nd position): Manchmal habe ich Heimweh, …
Subordinate clause (verb at the end): … obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag.

Could I start the sentence with obwohl instead?

Yes. You can reverse the order of the clauses:

Obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag, habe ich manchmal Heimweh.

Rules that still apply:

The obwohl-clause still has the verb at the end:
obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag
After the comma, you’re back in a main clause, so the verb is in second position:
habe ich manchmal Heimweh

Word order of the second part:

1st position: habe
2nd position: ich
Middle: manchmal Heimweh

Both versions are correct; the one you choose depends on what you want to emphasize:

Start with Manchmal → emphasis on the sometimes.
Start with Obwohl… → emphasis on the contrast (“although I like my new city…”).

What’s the difference between mag here and something like gefällt mir or gern?

In the sentence we have:

ich mag meine neue Stadt – I like my new city.

Some important points:

mögen (mag, magst, mag …)
- Pattern: jemanden/etwas mögen (Akkusativ)
- Ich mag meine neue Stadt.
gefallen
- Pattern: etwas gefällt jemandem (Dativ!)
- Meine neue Stadt gefällt mir.
  (“My new city pleases me.”)
gern
- An adverb meaning roughly with pleasure, gladly, I like doing…
- Used with verbs of activity:
  - Ich wohne gern in meiner neuen Stadt. – I like living in my new city.
  - Ich gehe gern spazieren. – I like going for walks.

All of these can be correct, but they’re structured differently:

Ich mag meine neue Stadt. – direct “I like X.”
Meine neue Stadt gefällt mir. – “X pleases me.”
Ich wohne gern in meiner neuen Stadt. – “I like living in X.”

In the original sentence, mag is the most straightforward way to say “I like my new city.”

What gender and case is meine neue Stadt, and why is the adjective ending -e?

Stadt is:

Gender: feminine – die Stadt
In the sentence: ich mag wen/was? meine neue Stadt
→ direct object → accusative case.

So we have:

Feminine singular, accusative
With a possessive determiner (mein-) and an adjective (neu)

The forms are:

Nominative: meine neue Stadt
Accusative: meine neue Stadt (same form as nominative for feminine)
Dative: meiner neuen Stadt
Genitive: meiner neuen Stadt

The pattern here:
For feminine singular with mein/dein/sein/ihr/unser/euer/Ihr, both nominative and accusative take -e on the adjective:

meine neue Stadt (Nom./Akk. fem. sg.)
deine alte Wohnung
unsere kleine Küche

So meine neue Stadt is feminine accusative singular with the correct adjective ending -e.

Why is it meine neue Stadt and not meiner neuen Stadt?

Because of the case required by the verb mögen.

mögen takes an accusative object:
- Ich mag wen/was? → meine neue Stadt (Akkusativ)

Forms of the feminine pronoun with mein-:

Nominative: meine neue Stadt
Accusative: meine neue Stadt
Dative: meiner neuen Stadt
Genitive: meiner neuen Stadt

You would use meiner neuen Stadt in contexts that require dative, for example:

Ich wohne in meiner neuen Stadt. (in + Dativ)
Ich bin mit meiner neuen Stadt zufrieden. (mit + Dativ)

But with ich mag …, you must use accusative, so meine neue Stadt is correct.

Where else can I put manchmal in this sentence, and does that change the meaning?

Possible positions include:

Manchmal habe ich Heimweh, obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag.
– “Sometimes I get homesick…”
(Emphasis on sometimes; adverb in first position, inversion follows.)
Ich habe manchmal Heimweh, obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag.
– Very natural, neutral emphasis; adverb in the middle field.
Ich habe Heimweh, manchmal, obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag.
– Possible in spoken German, with manchmal as a kind of afterthought. Sounds more stylistic/colloquial.

All are grammatical. The meaning is basically the same, but:

At the beginning, Manchmal is emphasized.
In the middle (after the verb/subject), it sounds the most neutral and common.

How do I pronounce manchmal and Heimweh correctly?

Approximate pronunciation with English hints (not IPA):

manchmal
- manch- like “munkh” (the ch here is the same sound as in ich, a soft “hissing h” made in the front of the mouth)
- -mal like “mahl” (long “ah”)
- Together: MANCH-mahl (stress on the first syllable)
Heimweh
- Heim like English “hime” (rhymes with “time”)
- weh like “vay” (German w is like English v; eh a long “ay” as in “say”)
- Together: HIME-vay (stress on the first syllable)

So the full sentence sounds roughly like:

MANCH-mahl HAH-beh ich HIME-vay, ob-WOHL ich MY-nuh NOY-uh shtat MAHG.

(That’s only approximate, but it gives you a good idea.)

Could I say something like Ich vermisse mein Zuhause, and how is that different from Ich habe Heimweh?

Yes, Ich vermisse mein Zuhause is a good, natural sentence, but it’s slightly different in nuance:

Ich habe Heimweh.
- Uses the specific noun Heimweh (“homesickness”).
- Focus is on the feeling/state of being homesick.
- Often implies a longing for your home country, city, or general “home”.
Ich vermisse mein Zuhause.
- Uses the verb jemanden/etwas vermissen – to miss someone/something.
- Focus is on missing a concrete thing/place/person.
- More flexible:
  - Ich vermisse meine Familie.
  - Ich vermisse meine Freunde.

You can also combine the ideas:

Ich habe Heimweh nach meinem Zuhause.
Ich habe Heimweh nach meiner Familie.

In the original sentence, Heimweh nicely captures the emotional contrast with obwohl ich meine neue Stadt mag.