Breakdown of Apoteket ligger ved siden af boghandlen.
ligge
to lie (be lying down) / to be located
apoteket
the pharmacy
ved siden af
next to
boghandlen
the bookstore
Questions & Answers about Apoteket ligger ved siden af boghandlen.
Why are there three words for "next to" (ved siden af)?
Ved siden af is a compound preposition, meaning a fixed phrase made of multiple words that works as a single preposition. Literally, it translates to "at the side of" (ved = at, siden = the side, af = of). You will always use these three words together to mean "next to".
Why does the sentence use ligger instead of er for "is"?
In Danish, you rarely use er to describe where buildings or geographical places are located. Instead, you use positional verbs like ligger (lies) or står (stands). Because a building is fixed to the ground and covers a wide area, ligger is the natural choice here.
I know boghandel means bookstore. Why is "the bookstore" spelled boghandlen and not boghandelen?
Words that end in an unstressed -el, like boghandel or cykel (bicycle), usually drop the final e when you add the definite ending -en. So, boghandel + -en shrinks into boghandlen to make the word flow better when speaking.
Why does apoteket end in -et but boghandlen ends in -en?
This is a great reminder of Danish noun genders! Apotek is an et-word (neuter), so "the pharmacy" takes the -et suffix. Boghandel is an en-word (common gender), so it takes the -en suffix.
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