Learn Hardcore German: Mein Bruder ist genauso müde wie ich.

so/genauso … wie = equality: as … as
- Mein Bruder ist genauso müde wie ich.
  My brother is just as tired as I am.
… -er als (comparative + als) = inequality: -er than
- Mein Bruder ist müder als ich.
  My brother is more tired than I am.

Since the sentence says they are equally tired, German must use wie, not als.
If you said genauso müde als ich, it would be incorrect.

Why is it wie ich and not wie mich?

After so/genauso … wie, German usually keeps the same case as the thing you’re comparing to.

The main subject is Mein Bruder → nominative.
The person being compared (the ich-part) is also a subject of an implicit verb bin (am).

You can think of the full underlying idea as:

Mein Bruder ist genauso müde wie ich (müde bin).
My brother is just as tired as I (am tired).

Because ich is the subject of the omitted verb bin, it has to be nominative → ich, not mich.

This is parallel to fairly formal English:

My brother is as tired as *I (am).*
rather than
My brother is as tired as *me.* (very common in speech, but less “school-grammar-correct”)

Can you actually say wie mich in German, the way many people say “as tired as me” in English?

In standard German, wie mich here sounds clearly wrong to native speakers. The expected form is wie ich.

You may occasionally hear wie mich in some regional or very informal speech, but:

It’s considered non‑standard / substandard.
In writing (and in careful speech), you should always use wie ich in this kind of comparison of equality.

So for learners: treat wie mich as incorrect in this sentence.

What’s the difference between so müde wie ich and genauso müde wie ich?

Both are valid and very close in meaning.

so müde wie ich
→ as tired as I (am)
genauso müde wie ich
→ just as tired as I (am), exactly as tired as I (am)

genauso adds a little nuance of exactness or emphasis, but in everyday speech they are often interchangeable.

All of these are fine:

Mein Bruder ist so müde wie ich.
Mein Bruder ist genauso müde wie ich.
Mein Bruder ist ebenso müde wie ich. (slightly more formal/literary)

Could I leave out genauso completely and just say Mein Bruder ist müde wie ich?

No, that sounds wrong or at least very odd in standard German.

You need the so/genauso/ebenso before the adjective when expressing this kind of equality:

✅ Mein Bruder ist so müde wie ich.
✅ Mein Bruder ist genauso müde wie ich.
❌ Mein Bruder ist müde wie ich. (unidiomatic; not standard)

Without so/genauso, wie ich would be understood more as “tired like I [am as a person],” which doesn’t really make sense here.

Why is it Mein Bruder ist … and not Ist mein Bruder …?

German main clauses normally follow the verb‑second (V2) rule:

The finite verb (here: ist) must be the second element in the sentence.
Mein Bruder is the first element (subject), so ist must come second.

So the neutral statement word order is:

Mein Bruder (1st position)
ist (2nd position – required for main clauses)
genauso müde wie ich (rest of the sentence)

Ist mein Bruder genauso müde wie ich? is also correct, but that’s a yes/no question, not a statement.

Why is it mein Bruder and not meinen Bruder / meinem Bruder / meines Bruders?

Because Mein Bruder is the subject of the sentence, and subjects in German are in the nominative case.

Declension of mein for Bruder (masculine singular):

Nominative: mein Bruder → subject
Accusative: meinen Bruder → direct object
Dative: meinem Bruder → indirect object
Genitive: meines Bruders → possession

Here we’re simply saying “My brother is …”, so we need nominative:

✅ Mein Bruder ist genauso müde wie ich.
❌ Meinen Bruder ist … (wrong case; would sound clearly incorrect)

Why does ich come at the very end of the sentence?

German is quite flexible with word order, but in comparisons with so/genauso … wie, the wie + pronoun/noun phrase normally comes as a block after the adjective/adverb:

… genauso müde wie ich
… so groß wie mein Vater
… so schnell wie du

Putting ich anywhere else (for example, Mein Bruder ist genauso ich müde wie) would break this pattern and sound ungrammatical. So ich naturally ends up at the end because the comparison phrase wie ich is one unit that follows genauso müde.

How would I change this sentence into a past tense, like “was as tired as I was”?

You only need to change the main verb from present ist to past war:

Mein Bruder war genauso müde wie ich.
My brother was just as tired as I was.

The comparison part genauso müde wie ich stays the same. You could optionally make the second verb explicit:

Mein Bruder war genauso müde wie ich (es war).
But normally it’s left out, just like in English.

How do I say “My brother is not as tired as I am” with this structure?

You negate the equality by adding nicht so (or nicht genauso) before the adjective:

Mein Bruder ist nicht so müde wie ich.
My brother is not as tired as I am.

You could also say:

Mein Bruder ist weniger müde als ich.
My brother is less tired than I am.

Notice the contrast:

so/genauso … wie → equality (as … as)
weniger … als or nicht so … wie → less than
…-er als (e.g. müder als) → more than

Can I flip the sentence and say “I am just as tired as my brother” in German?

Yes, you simply swap the comparison partners while keeping the same structure:

Ich bin genauso müde wie mein Bruder.

Structure:

Ich – subject
bin – verb
genauso müde – just as tired
wie mein Bruder – as my brother (is)

Both sentences are natural:

Mein Bruder ist genauso müde wie ich.
Ich bin genauso müde wie mein Bruder.

The meaning is the same; you just change what you mention first for emphasis or context.