Learn Hardcore German: Ohne Ohrstöpsel könnte mich das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste nachts wecken. - Without earplugs the snoring of the other guests could wake me up at night.

The tricky part: der Ohrstöpsel (singular) and die Ohrstöpsel (plural) both have the same form Ohrstöpsel in the accusative, so you can’t see the case or number from the ending alone here. You just have to know:

Preposition: ohne → accusative
Form: Ohrstöpsel → accusative (singular or plural; context suggests plural: “earplugs”)

Why is there no article before Ohrstöpsel (why not ohne die Ohrstöpsel or ohne einen Ohrstöpsel)?

German often drops the article with indefinite plurals, especially after ohne, mit, etc., when you mean “any / some” in a general way.

Ohne Ohrstöpsel ≈ “without (any) earplugs”
Ohne die Ohrstöpsel = “without the earplugs” (very specific, earplugs already known)
Ohne einen Ohrstöpsel = “without an earplug” (one single earplug)

So the sentence uses the general, indefinite plural: no specific pair of earplugs, just “earplugs” in general.

Why is it mich and not ich or mir?

Because mich is the accusative (direct object) form of ich.

The verb here is wecken (“to wake [someone] up”), and it takes a direct object:

jemanden wecken = to wake someone up

So:

ich = I (subject, nominative)
mich = me (direct object, accusative)
mir = to me (indirect object, dative)

In the sentence, “me” is what gets woken up, so German needs mich.

Why is the word order könnte mich das Schnarchen … wecken and not könnte das Schnarchen mich wecken?

Both orders are grammatically correct:

Könnte das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste mich nachts wecken.
Könnte mich das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste nachts wecken.

German allows quite a bit of flexibility in the middle field (the part between the conjugated verb and the final verb).

Some key points:

Verb-second rule in main clauses:
- Ohne Ohrstöpsel = first position
- könnte = second position (the finite verb)
With modal verbs, the lexical verb (wecken) goes to the end in the infinitive.
Pronouns like mich often come earlier, before full noun phrases:
- preferred neutral order:
  könnte mich das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste nachts wecken

So the chosen word order is very natural:
[Ohne Ohrstöpsel] [könnte] [mich] [das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste] [nachts] [wecken].

What exactly does könnte express here? Why not kann or würde wecken?

könnte here is Konjunktiv II of können and expresses a hypothetical possibility:

kann … wecken = “can wake me (up)” → real, general ability
könnte … wecken = “could wake me (up)” → possible, but framed as hypothetical (“if I didn’t have earplugs”)

In English, you’d also naturally say “could wake me up” in that context.

Using würde … wecken:

… würde mich wecken = “would wake me up” (more like a definite result in that situation)
… könnte mich wecken = “could wake me up” (it’s possible, not guaranteed)

So könnte softens it to “might / could happen,” matching the “without earplugs” condition nicely.

Why is Schnarchen capitalized and used with das?

Because here Schnarchen is not a verb; it has been turned into a noun:

schnarchen (lowercase) = to snore (verb)
das Schnarchen (capitalized) = the snoring (noun)

German regularly forms nouns from verbs by:

Using the infinitive form, and
Capitalizing it, and
Usually using das as the article.

So:

das Lachen = the laughing/laughter (from lachen)
das Essen = the food / the eating (from essen)
das Schnarchen = the snoring (from schnarchen)

What case is der anderen Gäste, and why is it der if the plural is die Gäste?

der anderen Gäste is genitive plural:

Nominative plural: die Gäste (the guests)
Genitive plural: der Gäste (of the guests)

Key points:

In the genitive plural, the article is der for all genders and for plurals.
anderen is an adjective and takes the ending -en in the genitive plural.
Gäste is the plural noun.

So das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste literally means “the snoring of the other guests”:

das Schnarchen = the snoring
der = genitive plural article
anderen = “other” with genitive plural ending
Gäste = guests

Form pattern: das [noun] der [adjective-en] [plural noun] → “the [noun] of the other guests”.

What does nachts mean, and how is it different from in der Nacht or in der Nacht with a specific time?

nachts is an adverb meaning “at night / during the night (in general)”.

nachts = at night (habitual or general: at night, as a rule, during nights)
in der Nacht = in the night / during the night (usually a specific night or time span)
heute Nacht = tonight
in der Nacht vom 3. auf den 4. Mai = in the night from May 3rd to 4th

In this sentence, nachts suggests “at night in general, whenever it is night,” not one specific night.

Could I change the word order, for example to Das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste könnte mich nachts wecken? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the word order in several ways without changing the core meaning:

Das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste könnte mich nachts wecken.
(Subject at the beginning; very neutral and clear.)
Nachts könnte mich das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste wecken.
(Emphasizes “at night.”)
Könnte das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste mich nachts wecken, …
(If continued, could sound like the beginning of a question or a conditional clause.)

In the original:

Ohne Ohrstöpsel is placed at the beginning to highlight the condition: “Without earplugs…”

All these versions are grammatically fine; word order mainly affects emphasis and flow, not the basic meaning.

Why say das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste instead of simply die anderen Gäste schnarchen?

Both are possible, but they are different structures:

das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste
- Noun phrase: “the snoring of the other guests”
- Focus is on the noise (the snoring) as a thing.
die anderen Gäste schnarchen
- Full clause with a finite verb: “the other guests snore”
- Focus is on what the guests are doing.

The original sentence wants to say:

It’s the snoring itself that could wake me up.

By nominalizing the action (das Schnarchen), German keeps the whole thing compact and allows it to act as the subject of wecken:

das Schnarchen der anderen Gäste (subject)
könnte
mich (object)
wecken (verb)

You could rephrase with a clause, but the original is very idiomatic and natural.