De asielhond gromt bij de bench.

Because Dutch uses definite articles much like English uses the.

• de asielhond = the shelter dog
• de bench = the crate / the bench

Both asielhond and bench are de-words, so they take de.

A useful extra rule: in Dutch, noun gender in a compound usually comes from the last part of the compound. Since hond is a de-word, asielhond is also a de-word.

Asielhond is a compound noun:

• asiel = shelter
• hond = dog

So asielhond means shelter dog or dog from an animal shelter.

This is very normal Dutch word formation: Dutch often combines nouns into one longer noun.

Examples:

• asielkat = shelter cat
• politiehond = police dog
• huisdier = pet

Even if asiel can also mean asylum in other contexts, in asielhond it refers to an animal shelter.

Because gromt is the conjugated form of the verb grommen (to growl) for a third-person singular subject.

The subject here is de asielhond, which is singular, so Dutch uses:

• ik grom = I growl
• jij gromt = you growl
• hij/zij/de hond gromt = he/she/the dog growls

So:

• De asielhond gromt = The shelter dog growls

The -t ending is very common in Dutch for third-person singular present tense.

Here bij means something like by, near, or at.

So bij de bench means the dog is growling:

• near the crate
• by the crate
• sometimes at the crate, depending on context

It does not necessarily mean the dog is physically touching it. It just places the dog in that area.

Compare:

• naast de bench = next to the crate
• in de bench = in the crate
• bij de bench = by / near the crate

Yes, bench is a borrowed word, but in Dutch it often has a special meaning in pet-related contexts: a dog crate or pet crate.

So in everyday Dutch, especially when talking about dogs, de bench usually means:

• a wire crate
• a dog crate
• a kennel-like indoor cage

This can confuse English speakers, because English bench usually means a seat. In Dutch pet vocabulary, bench often means something quite different.

A rough pronunciation is khromt.

A few pronunciation notes:

• g in standard Dutch is usually a throaty sound, not like the English g in go
• r may be rolled, tapped, or pronounced differently depending on region
• o in gromt is short, like in hot for many English speakers
• the final t is pronounced

So gromt is one compact syllable: khromt.

Yes. This is the basic Dutch main-clause pattern:

Subject + verb + rest

So:

• De asielhond = subject
• gromt = finite verb
• bij de bench = prepositional phrase

This is very normal and natural.

You can also move bij de bench to the front, but then Dutch keeps the verb in second position:

• Bij de bench gromt de asielhond.

That is also correct, but slightly different in emphasis.

Because hond is a de-word, and in Dutch compounds the article is usually determined by the last element.

• de hond
• therefore: de asielhond

This is a very useful rule for compound nouns:

• het huis → het hondenhuis
• de hond → de asielhond

So if you know the gender of the final noun, you can usually predict the article of the whole compound.

Sometimes, depending on context, yes—but grammatically bij mainly describes location, not direction of aggression.

So the sentence most directly says:

• the dog is growling while near the crate

Whether the dog is growling at something in or around the crate would have to come from context.

If you wanted to make the target clearer, Dutch might say:

• De asielhond gromt naar de bench. = The shelter dog growls toward the crate.
• De asielhond gromt naar iemand bij de bench. = The shelter dog growls at someone near the crate.

So bij is mainly about where, not who or what the growling is directed at.

Normally, no. In standard Dutch, this should be written as one word: asielhond.

Dutch writes many compound nouns as a single word:

• schooltas
• keukentafel
• dierenarts
• asielhond

Writing asiel hond separately would usually be seen as a spelling mistake.

This is one of the biggest differences from English, where compounds are often written as two words.