Breakdown of Die neue Statue steht dem Park gegenüber.
neu
new
der Park
the park
stehen
to stand
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
gegenüber
opposite, across from
die Statue
the statue
Questions & Answers about Die neue Statue steht dem Park gegenüber.
Why is gegenüber at the very end of the sentence instead of before dem Park?
The preposition gegenüber (opposite) is special because it can go either before or after the noun it refers to. Both gegenüber dem Park and dem Park gegenüber are perfectly correct and mean the exact same thing. Putting it after the noun is very common in spoken German!
Why does the sentence use dem Park instead of der Park?
gegenüber is a dative preposition, which means it always forces the noun it refers to into the dative case. Since Park is a masculine noun (der Park), its article changes to dem in the dative.
Why does neue just end in -e here?
This is because of the adjective ending rules. The phrase Die neue Statue is the subject of the sentence (nominative case) and Statue is feminine. Since we already have the definite article Die showing the gender, the adjective just takes the basic -e ending.
Could I use the verb ist (is) instead of steht (stands)?
Technically yes, you could say ...ist dem Park gegenüber, but steht sounds much more natural. German prefers to describe exactly how an object is located. Because a statue rests in an upright position, Germans use stehen (to stand) rather than just the generic verb for 'to be'.
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