Learn Hardcore German: Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder ist nachts laut.

Schnarchen normally is a verb (schnarchen = to snore), but here it is used as a noun, meaning “snoring”. Turning a verb into a noun like this is called Nominalisierung (nominalization), and then:

it is written with a capital letter: das Schnarchen
it gets a grammatical gender; here it is neuter, so the article is das

So das Schnarchen = the snoring (as a thing, an activity).

Why is it von meinem Bruder and not something like meines Bruders?

Both are actually possible:

Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder ist nachts laut.
Das Schnarchen meines Bruders ist nachts laut.

Differences:

von + dative (von meinem Bruder) is very common in spoken and informal German for expressing possession.
The genitive (meines Bruders) is somewhat more formal or written-style, though still perfectly normal.

So the sentence with von is a bit more colloquial in style, but grammatically correct.

Why is it meinem Bruder and not mein Bruder or meines Bruders after von?

The preposition von always takes the dative case.

The dative singular of mein Bruder (masculine noun) is:

Nominative: mein Bruder
Accusative: meinen Bruder
Dative: meinem Bruder
Genitive: meines Bruders

Because von requires the dative, you must say:

von meinem Bruder (not von mein Bruder, not von meines Bruders)

What is the grammatical subject of the sentence?

The subject is Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder.

Breakdown:

Das Schnarchen = head noun (snoring)
von meinem Bruder = a prepositional phrase attached to that noun, specifying whose snoring.

Together they form the subject, which is what the sentence is “about”:

Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder (subject)
ist (verb)
nachts laut (predicate: adverb + adjective)

Why is nachts used instead of in der Nacht?

nachts is an adverb meaning at night / during the night. It’s very common and sounds natural.

You could also say:

in der Nacht = at night
in der Nacht ist das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder laut.

Differences:

nachts is shorter and more idiomatic in everyday speech.
in der Nacht can sound a bit more literal or emphatic, but it’s not wrong.

So:

Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder ist nachts laut.
= My brother’s snoring is loud at night.

Why is nachts not capitalized, even though Nacht is a noun?

Nacht (night) is a noun and is capitalized.

But nachts is an adverb derived from the noun, meaning “at night / during the night”, and adverbs are written in lowercase:

die Nacht = the night (noun)
nachts = at night (adverb)

So in the sentence:

nachts must be lowercase.

Could I say Nachts ist das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder laut? Is that word order correct?

Yes, that is perfectly correct:

Nachts ist das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder laut.

Explanation:

In German, you can move an adverb like nachts to the first position for emphasis:
- Nachts (position 1)
- ist (finite verb in position 2 – the V2 rule)
- das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder (subject)
- laut (predicate adjective at the end)

Both orders are correct but have slightly different emphasis:

Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder ist nachts laut.
Neutral focus on “the snoring”.
Nachts ist das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder laut.
Emphasis on “at night”.

Why is it laut and not something like laute or lautes?

Here, laut is a predicate adjective, used with the verb sein (to be):

ist laut = is loud

Predicate adjectives in German:

do not take endings
do not agree in gender, number, or case when they follow sein, werden, bleiben, etc.

Examples:

Der Hund ist laut.
Die Kinder sind müde.
Das Wasser bleibt kalt.

So laut is correct here; forms like laute or lautes would be used only when the adjective is in front of a noun, e.g.:

das laute Schnarchen (the loud snoring)

Can I leave out das and just say Schnarchen von meinem Bruder ist nachts laut?

No, that would be ungrammatical in standard German.

When you use a nominalized verb like (das) Schnarchen as a subject in this way, you normally need an article:

Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder ist nachts laut. ✔️

If you drop the article, it sounds wrong or at least very unnatural here. There are some fixed expressions without an article (e.g. Schwimmen ist gesund), but Schnarchen von meinem Bruder doesn’t belong to that pattern.

Could I say mein Bruder schnarcht nachts laut instead? Is that the same meaning?

Yes, that sentence is also correct, and the basic meaning is the same:

Mein Bruder schnarcht nachts laut.
= My brother snores loudly at night.

Difference:

Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder ist nachts laut.
focuses on “the snoring” as a thing (his snoring is loud).
Mein Bruder schnarcht nachts laut.
is a more direct action sentence about what your brother does.

Both are natural; the original one is slightly more “descriptive,” like you’re talking about a characteristic of his snoring.

Why is it Bruder and not something like Bruders after meinem?

Because meinem already shows the case (dative) and gender (masculine), so Bruder stays in its normal singular form.

Forms of Bruder (brother):

Nominative: der Bruder
Accusative: den Bruder
Dative: dem Bruder
Genitive: des Bruders

With mein:

meinem Bruder = dative (after von)
meines Bruders = genitive

In the sentence we have von + dative, so:

von meinem Bruder is correct.

Is Das Schnarchen meines Bruders ist nachts laut more correct or more formal than von meinem Bruder?

Both are correct; neither is “more correct”.

However, there is a stylistic difference:

Das Schnarchen meines Bruders
– uses the genitive
– sounds a bit more formal, written, or bookish.
Das Schnarchen von meinem Bruder
– uses von + dative
– sounds a bit more everyday and spoken.

In modern German, von + dative is extremely common in conversation, while the genitive is more often seen in writing or slightly more formal speech.