Learn Hardcore German: Ohne Pausen halte ich den Lärm im Großraumbüro kaum aus. - Without breaks I can hardly endure the noise in the open‑plan office.

German main clauses follow the verb‑second (V2) rule: the finite verb (here halte) must be in second position, but anything can be in the first position (subject, time expression, prepositional phrase, object, etc.).

So:

Ohne Pausen (prepositional phrase) = first position
halte (finite verb) = second position
ich den Lärm im Großraumbüro kaum aus = the rest of the sentence

You could also say:

Ich halte den Lärm im Großraumbüro ohne Pausen kaum aus.
Im Großraumbüro halte ich den Lärm ohne Pausen kaum aus.

All are grammatically correct; the difference is emphasis. Starting with Ohne Pausen emphasizes the lack of breaks: It’s without breaks that I can hardly stand the noise.

Why is it Ohne Pausen and not Ohne Pause? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatically correct, but the nuance is slightly different:

ohne Pause – literally without (a) break / without a pause
- focuses on there being no single break at all
- sounds like one continuous period without interruption
ohne Pausen – literally without breaks
- emphasizes the repeated or regular nature of breaks that are missing
- fits well with everyday work life where you normally have several short breaks

In the context of a noisy open‑plan office, ohne Pausen suggests without regular, repeated breaks from the noise and is very natural.

Why is there no article before Pausen? Why not ohne die Pausen or ohne Pausen with something else?

In German, indefinite plural nouns often appear without any article when we talk about them in a general sense:

Ich esse gern Äpfel. – I like eating apples.
Ohne Pausen halte ich … kaum aus. – I can hardly stand it without (any) breaks.

You would only add an article if you want to be specific:

Ohne die Pausen halte ich den Lärm kaum aus.
= Without those particular breaks (that we’re talking about), I can hardly stand the noise.

Here the meaning is general – any breaks, in general – so no article is more natural.

Why does ohne take Pausen in this form? Which case is this?

Ohne is a preposition that always takes the accusative case.

Singular: ohne die Pause (Akkusativ singular)
Plural: ohne die Pausen (Akkusativ plural)

In the example, Pausen is plural, and plural nouns in German often look the same in nominative and accusative. There is no article here, but the case is still accusative, because ohne requires it.

So grammatically it’s: ohne + Akkusativ → ohne Pausen.

What’s going on with halte … aus? Why is aus at the end?

The verb here is aushalten (to bear, to endure, to stand), which is a separable verb:

infinitive: aushalten
stem: halt‑
separable prefix: aus

In a main clause in the present tense:

the finite part (halte) goes to the second position,
the separable prefix (aus) goes to the end of the clause.

So you get:
Ohne Pausen halte ich den Lärm … kaum aus.

More examples:

Ich halte den Stress nicht aus. – I can’t stand the stress.
Wie hältst du das aus? – How do you put up with that?

How does aushalten work in other tenses or in subordinate clauses?

The position of aus changes depending on the structure:

Perfect tense (with haben):
The prefix is no longer separated; it stays attached to the participle.
- Ich habe den Lärm kaum ausgehalten.
- Ohne Pausen habe ich den Lärm im Großraumbüro kaum ausgehalten.
Subordinate clause (introduced by weil, dass, etc.):
The finite verb goes to the end, and the separable verb is not split.
- …, weil ich den Lärm im Großraumbüro ohne Pausen kaum aushalte.
- …, dass ich den Lärm ohne Pausen kaum aushalte.
With a modal verb:
The modal is conjugated and often takes second position; aushalten stays together at the end in the infinitive.
- Ohne Pausen kann ich den Lärm kaum aushalten.
- Ich will den Lärm nicht mehr aushalten.

Why is it den Lärm and not der Lärm?

Lärm is masculine:

der Lärm – nominative singular
den Lärm – accusative singular

In the sentence, Lärm is the direct object of the verb aushalten (What do I hardly endure? → the noise). Direct objects are usually in the accusative case, so you need den, not der:

Der Lärm ist schrecklich. – Der Lärm is the subject → nominative.
Ich halte den Lärm kaum aus. – den Lärm is the object → accusative.

What is the difference between Lärm, Geräusch, and Krach?

These all relate to sounds/noise, but they’re used differently:

Lärm – noise (usually unpleasant, loud, disturbing)
- Im Großraumbüro gibt es viel Lärm.
Krach – loud noise, racket, often very informal/colloquial
- Die Kinder machen Krach. – The kids are making a racket.
Geräusch – sound (more neutral; can be pleasant or unpleasant)
- Ich höre ein seltsames Geräusch. – I hear a strange sound.

In this sentence, den Lärm is natural because it refers to annoying, disturbing noise in an open‑plan office.

What exactly does im Großraumbüro mean? What is im and which case is used?

im is a contraction of in dem:

in = in
dem = dative article, masculine or neuter singular

So:

in dem Büro → im Büro
im Großraumbüro = in dem Großraumbüro

The case is dative, because:

in is a two‑way preposition (Wechselpräposition). It takes:
- dative for location (Where something is)
- accusative for direction (Where something is going)
Here it describes location (where the noise is):
→ im Großraumbüro = in the open‑plan office (location) → Dativ.

So Großraumbüro is neuter (das Großraumbüro), and in dem becomes im.

What kind of word is Großraumbüro and how is it formed?

Großraumbüro is a typical German compound noun:

groß – big
der Raum – room
das Büro – office

Großraum → literally “large space” or “open space”
Großraumbüro → an open‑plan office (a large, shared office space without many walls)

Key points:

It’s written as one word and capitalized, because all nouns in German are capitalized.
Gender: das Großraumbüro (neuter)
Plural: die Großraumbüros

So im Großraumbüro = in dem Großraumbüro = in the open‑plan office.

What does kaum mean here, and how is it different from fast nicht or schwer?

kaum here is an adverb meaning hardly / barely / almost not.

Ich halte den Lärm kaum aus.
≈ I can hardly stand the noise.
(I do manage, but just barely.)

Comparison:

fast nicht – almost not
- Ich halte den Lärm fast nicht aus.
  Very similar to kaum, but kaum is a bit more idiomatic and compact here.
schwer – with difficulty / hard
- Ich halte den Lärm nur schwer aus.
  Emphasizes that it’s difficult, but doesn’t have quite the same “almost not” feeling that kaum has.

So kaum expresses a very low degree of being able to endure the noise, but not completely zero.

Why is kaum before aus and not earlier in the sentence?

In main clauses with separable verbs, the separable prefix must come last:

halte … aus

Adverbs like kaum that modify the verb usually stand before the separable prefix and therefore just before the end of the clause:

Ich halte den Lärm kaum aus.
Ich halte den Lärm im Großraumbüro ohne Pausen kaum aus.

You could move kaum earlier for emphasis or style, but it’s much less natural:

? Ich halte kaum den Lärm im Großraumbüro aus. (unusual, sounds marked)

The default, most natural position is right before the prefix in this kind of sentence.

Can I change the word order and still mean the same thing? For example: Ich halte den Lärm im Großraumbüro ohne Pausen kaum aus.

Yes. Several word orders are possible and grammatically correct. They mainly change what you emphasize:

Ohne Pausen halte ich den Lärm im Großraumbüro kaum aus.
– Emphasis on Ohne Pausen (Without breaks, I can hardly stand it.)
Im Großraumbüro halte ich den Lärm ohne Pausen kaum aus.
– Emphasis on Im Großraumbüro (In the open‑plan office, I can hardly stand the noise without breaks.)
Ich halte den Lärm im Großraumbüro ohne Pausen kaum aus.
– Neutral order; emphasizes Ich less and the whole situation more.

As long as:

the finite verb (halte) is second, and
the prefix (aus) is at the end,

the sentence will generally be correct. The rest can move around for emphasis and information structure.