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Der Rauchmelder war nur wegen einer leeren Batterie laut, also ist jetzt wieder Ruhe.

Der Rauchmelder war nur wegen einer leeren Batterie laut, also ist jetzt wieder Ruhe.
The smoke detector was loud only because of an empty battery, so it’s quiet again now.
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Questions & Answers about Der Rauchmelder war nur wegen einer leeren Batterie laut, also ist jetzt wieder Ruhe.

Why is it Der Rauchmelder and not Die Rauchmelder or Das Rauchmelder? What gender is Rauchmelder?

Rauchmelder is masculine: der Rauchmelder.

  • Singular: der Rauchmelder
  • Plural: die Rauchmelder
    German gender is a property of the noun, and compounds usually take the gender of the final element (here Melder, which is masculine).
What grammar pattern is war ... laut? Why is there no extra verb like machen?

This uses sein + adjective to describe a state: Der Rauchmelder war laut = the smoke alarm was loud.
No additional verb is needed because laut is an adjective functioning as a subject complement after sein. (Similarly: Er ist müde, Das ist wichtig.)

Does laut here mean loud or out loud? I’ve seen laut used differently.

Here laut means loud/noisy (describing volume).
German laut can also appear in other meanings, depending on context, e.g. laut Gesetz = according to the law, but in this sentence it’s clearly the everyday adjective loud.

What exactly does nur wegen mean, and what does nur modify?

wegen means because of and nur means only. Together nur wegen ... means only because of ....
Here, nur limits the reason: the alarm was loud for that reason and not for something else.

Why is it wegen einer leeren Batterie? What case comes after wegen?

Traditionally wegen takes the genitive: wegen einer leeren Batterie is formally genitive-looking, but note that for feminine singular einer can be both genitive and dative.
In modern spoken German, wegen is also often used with dative, especially in plural or masculine/neuter contexts (e.g. colloquial wegen dem Wetter), but more formal is wegen des Wetters.

Why is the adjective leeren ending in -en in einer leeren Batterie?

Because the noun phrase has the indefinite article einer, and the adjective takes the corresponding weak/mixed ending for that case/gender. For feminine singular after einer (genitive or dative), the adjective ending is -en:

  • eine leere Batterie (nominative/accusative)
  • einer leeren Batterie (dative/genitive)
Why is there a comma before also?

Because the comma separates two independent main clauses:
1) Der Rauchmelder war nur wegen einer leeren Batterie laut
2) also ist jetzt wieder Ruhe
The comma marks the boundary, and also introduces the conclusion/result in the second clause (similar to so, therefore).

What does also mean here? Is it like English also (= too)?

No—German also usually means so / therefore / well then.
English also (= too/as well) is usually auch in German.
So here: ..., also ist ... = ..., so now ...

Why does the second part say ist jetzt wieder Ruhe and not jetzt ist wieder Ruhe or es ist wieder ruhig?

All of these are possible, with slightly different style:

  • also ist jetzt wieder Ruhe: main clause with also first, then verb (V2), then jetzt, then subject (Ruhe).
  • also jetzt ist wieder Ruhe: also possible; jetzt is moved forward for emphasis.
  • also ist es wieder ruhig: uses es as a subject and the adjective ruhig; very natural too.
    Ruhe here is a noun meaning calm/quiet; wieder Ruhe is an idiomatic way to say things are quiet again.
In ist jetzt wieder Ruhe, what is the subject? It looks like there isn’t one.

The subject is Ruhe. The word order is just inverted because German main clauses require the verb in second position (V2). Since also is in position 1, the verb ist must come next, and the subject Ruhe comes later:
also (1) ist (2) jetzt wieder Ruhe (rest)

Why is there no article in wieder Ruhe? Why not wieder die Ruhe?

With abstract nouns like Ruhe, German often omits the article when speaking generally: Es ist Ruhe / Jetzt ist Ruhe = it’s quiet/calm.
Adding an article changes the nuance:

  • Jetzt ist wieder Ruhe = quiet again (general situation)
  • Jetzt ist wieder die Ruhe can sound like referring to a specific, previously known state of calm, and is less common in everyday speech here.
Why is the tense war used in the first clause but ist in the second clause?

The first clause describes the earlier situation (the alarm being loud), so it uses past tense war.
The second clause describes the current situation (now it’s quiet again), so it uses present tense ist with jetzt to mark “now.”