Receptionen ligger ved siden af elevatoren.

The reception is next to the elevator.

Breakdown of Receptionen ligger ved siden af elevatoren.

• ligge: to be located
• ved siden af: next to
• receptionen: the reception
• elevatoren: the elevator

Questions & Answers about Receptionen ligger ved siden af elevatoren.

Why do reception and elevator end in -en here?

Because Danish often puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• reception = reception
• receptionen = the reception
• elevator = elevator
• elevatoren = the elevator

So:

• Receptionen ligger ved siden af elevatoren
  = The reception is next to the elevator

Both nouns here are in the definite singular form.

Why is it ligger and not er?

In Danish, ligge is very commonly used for the location of places, buildings, rooms, shops, and similar things.

So ligger often means:

• is located
• lies
• is situated

That is why Receptionen ligger ved siden af elevatoren sounds natural in Danish.

If you translated very literally, it would be closer to:

• The reception is located next to the elevator

Using er is not usually the natural choice for this kind of physical location.

What does ved siden af mean exactly?