La bestŝirmejo estas apud la parko.

Because both nouns are being treated as specific, identifiable things:

• la bestŝirmejo = the animal shelter
• la parko = the park

In Esperanto, la works like English the. If both the shelter and the park are specific in the context, you use la before both nouns.

It is a compound word made from smaller parts:

• best- = animal, beast
• ŝirm- = shelter, protect
• -ej- = place for something
• -o = noun ending

So bestŝirmejo literally means something like animal-shelter-place, which naturally becomes animal shelter.

This kind of word-building is very common in Esperanto.

In Esperanto compounds, the earlier part usually appears as a root or stem, not as a full standalone word with its normal ending.

So:

• standalone word: besto = animal
• in a compound: best-

That is why you get bestŝirmejo, not bestoŝirmejo.

This is a very common pattern in Esperanto word formation.

The ending -ejo means a place used for, a place connected with, or a place where something happens.

Examples:

• lernejo = school, literally learning-place
• kuirejo = kitchen, literally cooking-place
• ŝirmejo = shelter, literally sheltering-place

So bestŝirmejo is a place for sheltering animals.

Estas is the present tense of esti, which means to be.

So:

• mi estas = I am
• vi estas = you are
• li/ŝi estas = he/she is
• ili estas = they are

Notice that Esperanto does not change the present-tense verb depending on the subject. It is always estas.

So La bestŝirmejo estas apud la parko simply uses the normal present tense: The animal shelter is next to the park.

Apud is a preposition meaning next to, beside, or by.

So:

• apud la parko = next to the park

It shows location relative to the park.

It is more specifically beside/adjacent to than some broader location words like:

• en = in
• sur = on
• ĉe = at, by
• proksime de = near

So apud is a good choice when something is right beside something else.

Because this sentence describes a location, not movement toward somewhere.

• apud la parko = next to the park

Here the shelter is simply located there.

In Esperanto, the -n ending can sometimes be used to show direction after certain prepositions, but when you are just describing where something is, you normally do not use -n.

So here:

• correct: apud la parko = beside the park

Yes. Esperanto strongly prefers forming compounds as single words.

So bestŝirmejo is normally written as one word, not as separate words.

This is one reason Esperanto vocabulary can be very efficient: instead of memorizing a completely separate word, you often combine familiar roots and endings.

A helpful approximate breakdown is:

• best-ŝir-MEY-o

A few pronunciation notes:

• ŝ sounds like English sh
• j sounds like English y
• ej sounds roughly like ey in they
• stress in Esperanto usually falls on the second-to-last syllable

So bestŝirmejo is stressed on mej.

Yes, Esperanto word order is somewhat flexible, because the grammar is marked clearly.

For example, you could also say:

• Apud la parko estas la bestŝirmejo.

That would still mean essentially the same thing, though the emphasis changes a bit. The original version is the most straightforward neutral order:

• La bestŝirmejo estas apud la parko.

That structure is especially comfortable for English speakers because it matches normal English sentence order closely.