Breakdown of Der Bahnhof liegt hinter dem historischen Zentrum.
der Bahnhof
the train station
liegen
to lie
hinter
behind
historisch
historical
das Zentrum
the center (downtown)
Questions & Answers about Der Bahnhof liegt hinter dem historischen Zentrum.
Why does the adjective historischen end in -en?
It follows a definite article in the dative case. The preposition hinter triggers the dative case here, changing das Zentrum to dem Zentrum. In the dative case, any adjective that comes after a definite article takes an -en ending, regardless of whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter.
hinter is a two-way preposition. Why does it take the dative case here instead of the accusative?
Two-way prepositions take the dative when they describe a fixed location, answering the question "where?" (wo?). Because the train station is simply located there and not moving toward a new destination, we use the dative case.
Why does the sentence use liegt instead of ist for "is located"?
While you can say ist, German strongly prefers positional verbs like liegen (to lie) or stehen (to stand) to describe where something is located. Broad, flat, or sprawling things like a train station, a city, or a region are usually described with liegen.
How do I know the gender of Zentrum from this sentence?
You can figure it out from the article dem. Since the word is in the singular dative case, dem means the noun must be either masculine or neuter. Zentrum happens to be neuter (das Zentrum).
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