Breakdown of Der Flughafen liegt außerhalb der Grenze.
liegen
to lie
der Flughafen
the airport
die Grenze
the border
außerhalb
outside of
Questions & Answers about Der Flughafen liegt außerhalb der Grenze.
Why does the sentence use der Grenze? Isn't Grenze a feminine word?
Yes, die Grenze is feminine! However, the preposition außerhalb (outside of) requires the genitive case. In the genitive case, the feminine definite article die changes to der.
Why do we use liegt instead of ist to say the airport is outside the border?
While you can say ist, German strongly prefers using positional verbs like liegen (to lie) for geographic locations, places, and complexes that are spread over a flat area. Cities, countries, and airports lie (liegen), whereas a tall building like a tower would stand (stehen).
I noticed außerhalb ends in -halb. Does that mean half?
Historically, yes! The suffix -halb comes from an old Germanic root relating to side or half. You will see it in several spatial prepositions like innerhalb (inside/within), oberhalb (above), and unterhalb (below). You can think of außerhalb as literally meaning on the outer side of.
The lesson mentions temporal prepositions too. Can außerhalb be used for time as well as space?
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