Learn Hardcore German: Mein Studienalltag ist manchmal stressig, aber abends mache ich eine Pause im Garten. - My daily student life is sometimes stressful, but in the evening I take a break in the garden.

German very often creates long compound nouns instead of using a separate phrase like English does. So instead of my everyday life as a student, German prefers mein Studienalltag.

Why is it Mein Studienalltag and not Meine Studienalltag or Meinen Studienalltag?

The form of mein- depends on:

The gender and number of the noun.
The case (nominative, accusative, etc.).

Here:

Studienalltag is masculine singular (der Studienalltag).
In the sentence, Mein Studienalltag is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.

Masculine singular nominative with mein- takes no ending:

mein Bruder (my brother)
mein Kaffee (my coffee)
mein Studienalltag (my daily student life)

So Mein Studienalltag is correct; meine would be for feminine or plural nominative, and meinen is accusative masculine (for direct objects), which is not the case here.

Why is stressig written without any ending? Shouldn’t it be stressige or something similar?

In this sentence, stressig is used as a predicate adjective after the verb sein (ist).

German adjectives behave differently depending on position:

Before a noun (attributive): they take endings.
- ein stressiger Tag (a stressful day)
- mein stressiger Studienalltag (my stressful study routine)
After sein, werden, bleiben (predicate): they do not take endings.
- Der Tag ist stressig.
- Mein Studienalltag ist manchmal stressig.

So here stressig correctly appears without an ending because it comes after ist and describes the subject.

Where does manchmal usually go in a German sentence? Could I say it in a different place?

manchmal is an adverb meaning sometimes. German adverbs have some flexibility in word order, but there are typical positions.

Common options here:

Mein Studienalltag ist manchmal stressig.
(Adverb before the predicate adjective.)
Mein Studienalltag ist stressig, manchmal.
(Possible, but sounds more like an afterthought, more spoken-style.)
Manchmal ist mein Studienalltag stressig.
(Focuses more strongly on the sometimes aspect.)

All of these are grammatically OK, but the original

Mein Studienalltag ist manchmal stressig

is the most neutral and natural written form. So yes, you can move manchmal a bit, but the feel and emphasis of the sentence may change slightly.

Why is it aber here and not sondern?

Both aber and sondern can translate as but, but they are used differently:

aber = but, however (simple contrast)
sondern = but rather / but instead (correcting a negation)

Use sondern only after a negation that you are correcting:

Ich mache keine Pause im Garten, sondern im Wohnzimmer.
(Not in the garden, but rather in the living room.)

In the given sentence, there is no negation before aber; it’s just a contrast:

Mein Studienalltag ist manchmal stressig, aber abends mache ich eine Pause im Garten.
(Sometimes stressful, but in the evening I take a break…)

So aber is correct.

What exactly does abends mean, and how is it different from am Abend?

abends is an adverb derived from der Abend (evening). It means:

in the evenings / in the evening(s) (regularly, habitually)

So:

Ich lerne abends.
= I study in the evenings (as a general habit).

am Abend is more like:

on the evening / in the evening (more like one particular evening or a specific time frame)

For example:

Am Abend esse ich mit meiner Familie.
Could be this evening, or a more specific time in a narrative.

In your sentence, abends fits well, because it describes a regular habit:

… aber abends mache ich eine Pause im Garten.
= but in the evenings I take a break in the garden.

Why is the verb after abends? Why abends mache ich and not abends ich mache?

German main clauses follow the verb-second rule:

The finite verb (here: mache) must be in second position in the clause.

The first position can be many things: subject, adverb, object, etc. In your sentence, an adverb (abends) is placed first for emphasis:

First position: abends (time adverbial)
Second position: mache (finite verb)
Then: ich eine Pause im Garten (rest of the sentence)

So:

Abends mache ich eine Pause im Garten. ✅
Abends ich mache eine Pause im Garten. ❌ (wrong word order)

You could also say:

Ich mache abends eine Pause im Garten. ✅

Same meaning, but the focus shifts slightly: starting with abends highlights the time more strongly.

Why is it mache ich eine Pause and not nehme ich eine Pause like in English take a break?

German and English often use different verbs for similar expressions.

In German, the standard collocation is:

eine Pause machen = to take a break

You will hear and see eine Pause machen far more often than eine Pause nehmen. eine Pause nehmen is not wrong, but it sounds more formal or less idiomatic in everyday speech.

Some related natural expressions:

Ich mache eine kurze Pause. – I’m taking a short break.
Wir sollten eine Pause machen. – We should take a break.
Nach dem Unterricht mache ich immer eine Pause. – I always take a break after class.

So for everyday German, Pause machen is the most natural choice.

What does im Garten consist of, and why is it not just in dem Garten?

im is a contraction of:

in
- dem = im

This is very common in German with masculine and neuter dative singular:

in dem Haus → im Haus
an dem Tag → am Tag
zu dem Arzt → zum Arzt

So:

in dem Garten ✅ (grammatically correct but sounds overly formal/long in everyday speech)
im Garten ✅ (normal, natural form)

In normal spoken and written German, im Garten is strongly preferred.

Why is it dative in im Garten and not accusative, like in den Garten?

The preposition in can take dative or accusative:

dative = location (where something is; no movement)
accusative = direction (movement into / to a place)

Compare:

Ich bin im Garten. (dative) – I am in the garden (location).
Ich gehe in den Garten. (accusative) – I go into the garden (movement towards).

In your sentence:

… mache ich eine Pause im Garten.

You are describing where you take the break, not a movement into the garden. So it expresses location, and therefore dative is used:

in
- dem Garten (dative) → im Garten.

Could I also say … aber ich mache abends eine Pause im Garten? Is there a difference?

Yes, both versions are correct:

…, aber abends mache ich eine Pause im Garten.
…, aber ich mache abends eine Pause im Garten.

Grammatically they are both fine and mean essentially the same thing.

The difference is emphasis:

Version 1 (original): Starting with abends highlights the time; it has a slight contrastive feel: Even though my study routine is sometimes stressful, in the evenings I (do at least) take a break…
Version 2: More neutral; keeps the subject ich in the same place as in many English sentences.

In everyday speech, version 2 might sound a bit more neutral, but version 1 is very natural and stylistically nice in written German.

Why is the present tense used here? Does mache ich mean I am doing it right now or that I do it regularly?

German Präsens (present tense) covers both meanings that English often separates into:

I do (simple present, habitual)
I am doing (present continuous, right now)

In this sentence, because of abends (in the evenings) and the general context, the habitual interpretation is most natural:

… aber abends mache ich eine Pause im Garten.
= I take a break in the garden in the evenings (this is my regular habit).

If you really needed to emphasize that you are doing it right now, you would normally give more context (like Jetzt or gerade):

Jetzt mache ich eine Pause im Garten. – I’m taking a break in the garden now.

But grammatically, it’s still just Präsens; context tells you whether it’s a current action or a regular habit.