Breakdown of Nach dem Tiefpunkt fühle ich mich wieder ruhig.
Questions & Answers about Nach dem Tiefpunkt fühle ich mich wieder ruhig.
Because of the preposition nach.
When nach means after in a temporal sense, it always takes the dative case:
- nach dem Tiefpunkt – after the low point
- nach der Schule – after school
- nach dem Essen – after the meal
Tiefpunkt is a masculine noun (der Tiefpunkt in the nominative), so its dative singular form is:
- Masculine definite article in dative: dem
- So: nach dem Tiefpunkt (after the low point)
Tiefpunkt literally means “deep point”, but it’s usually used figuratively, like:
- a low point in your life
- the worst moment in a situation
- the bottom of a crisis
Grammatically:
- Gender: masculine → der Tiefpunkt
- Plural: die Tiefpunkte
In this sentence, nach dem Tiefpunkt means after the (emotional / personal) low point.
German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule:
the conjugated verb must be in second position, no matter what comes first.
Here, Nach dem Tiefpunkt is placed first for emphasis (a time expression). That whole phrase counts as position 1. Then the finite verb must come in position 2:
- Nach dem Tiefpunkt – position 1 (time phrase)
- fühle – position 2 (conjugated verb)
- ich – position 3 (subject)
- mich wieder ruhig – rest of the sentence
So Nach dem Tiefpunkt fühle ich mich … is correct.
Nach dem Tiefpunkt ich fühle mich … breaks the V2 rule and is wrong in standard German.
The verb sich fühlen (to feel [a certain way]) is reflexive in German.
That means it normally comes with a reflexive pronoun that refers back to the subject:
- ich fühle mich
- du fühlst dich
- er/sie/es fühlt sich
- wir fühlen uns
- ihr fühlt euch
- sie/Sie fühlen sich
English says I feel calm, but German literally says I feel myself calm:
- Ich fühle mich ruhig. – I feel calm.
So in your sentence fühle ich mich wieder ruhig, mich is required with fühlen in this meaning.
Yes, you can. Both are grammatically correct, but there is a nuance:
- Ich bin wieder ruhig. – states a fact about your state: I am calm again.
- Ich fühle mich wieder ruhig. – focuses more on your subjective perception: I feel calm again.
In everyday use, they often overlap in meaning. Sein (bin ruhig) is a bit more neutral; mich fühlen can sound slightly more introspective or emotional. In many contexts, either is fine.
In this sentence, wieder (again) is an adverb that modifies the state ruhig (calm). The natural placement is before the adjective phrase it belongs to:
- Ich fühle mich wieder ruhig. – I feel calm again.
Ruhig wieder at the end (fühle ich mich ruhig wieder) sounds wrong or very unnatural. Native speakers do not say it that way in standard German.
Some natural variations are:
- Ich fühle mich nach dem Tiefpunkt wieder ruhig.
- Nach dem Tiefpunkt fühle ich mich wieder ruhig.
But ruhig wieder at the end should be avoided here.
Because ruhig here is a predicate adjective, coming after a verb like sein or sich fühlen. Predicate adjectives in German do not get endings:
- Ich bin ruhig. – I am calm.
- Ich fühle mich ruhig. – I feel calm.
No extra -e or other ending is added.
You only add endings when the adjective comes before a noun (attributive position):
- ein ruhiger Abend – a calm evening
- der ruhige Mann – the calm man
In your sentence, ruhig describes the subject via the verb, so it stays in its base form.
Yes, you can change the word order, and the basic meaning stays the same:
- Nach dem Tiefpunkt fühle ich mich wieder ruhig.
- Ich fühle mich nach dem Tiefpunkt wieder ruhig.
Both are correct.
The difference is in emphasis:
- Starting with Nach dem Tiefpunkt emphasizes the time frame or turning point.
- Starting with Ich emphasizes the person (you) more neutrally, like a default word order.
German allows fairly flexible word order as long as the conjugated verb stays in second position in main clauses.
nach and nachdem look similar but work differently:
- nach = preposition + noun (dative)
- nach dem Tiefpunkt – after the low point
(preposition + dative noun phrase)
- nachdem = subordinating conjunction + clause
- Nachdem ich den Tiefpunkt erreicht habe, fühle ich mich wieder ruhig.
– After I have reached the low point, I feel calm again.
So:
- Use nach + dative when you attach a noun phrase.
- Use nachdem + clause when you attach a full sentence (with subject and verb).
Your original sentence uses the simpler prepositional phrase with nach dem Tiefpunkt.
German often uses the present tense to describe:
- a current state
- something that is true now as a result of past events
Nach dem Tiefpunkt fühle ich mich wieder ruhig.
→ Right now, after that low point, I (now) feel calm again.
If you say:
- Nach dem Tiefpunkt habe ich mich wieder ruhig gefühlt.
you’re talking more about a past situation from a later perspective, like narrating events:
- After the low point, I felt calm again. (back then)
So:
- Präsens (fühle) – focuses on the current state or immediate result.
- Perfekt (habe mich gefühlt) – focuses on a completed situation in the past.