Die Garnrolle liegt neben der Stoffkante.

Because the two noun phrases are in different cases.

• die Garnrolle is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.
• der Stoffkante comes after neben, and here neben describes a location, so it takes the dative case.

Since Stoffkante is feminine:

• nominative: die Stoffkante
• dative: der Stoffkante

So der here does not mean the noun is masculine; it is just the feminine dative form.

Neben is a two-way preposition in German. That means it can take:

• dative for location: where something is
• accusative for direction/movement: where something is going

In Die Garnrolle liegt neben der Stoffkante, the spool is already there, so this is a location. That is why German uses the dative: neben der Stoffkante.

Compare:

• Die Garnrolle liegt neben der Stoffkante. = It is next to the fabric edge.
• Ich lege the Garnrolle neben die Stoffkante. = I put the spool next to the fabric edge.

German often prefers a position verb instead of a general to be.

Here, liegen means to be lying / to be located in a lying position. For many objects, especially ones resting flat or not upright, German commonly uses liegen.

So:

• Die Garnrolle liegt neben der Stoffkante. = The spool is lying/is located next to the fabric edge.

You could sometimes hear ist neben ..., but liegt sounds more natural when describing the position of an object like this.

Liegt is the 3rd person singular form of liegen.

Its basic forms are:

• infinitive: liegen
• ich liege
• du liegst
• er/sie/es liegt
• wir liegen
• ihr liegt
• sie/Sie liegen

In this sentence, the subject is die Garnrolle, which is singular, so the verb is liegt.

Yes, Garnrolle is one word because German very often uses compound nouns.

• Garn = thread/yarn
• Rolle = roll/spool

Together, Garnrolle means something like thread spool or spool of thread.

German usually prefers this compact compound structure over Rolle von Garn, especially in ordinary descriptions.

In German compounds, the last part usually determines the gender.

• die Rolle is feminine, so die Garnrolle is feminine.
• die Kante is feminine, so die Stoffkante is feminine.

This is a very useful rule for compound nouns.

Because in German, all nouns are capitalized.

So:

• die Garnrolle
• die Stoffkante

This is normal in German and helps you spot nouns quickly.

Yes. German word order is flexible, as long as the finite verb stays in the correct position in a main clause.

The normal order here is:

• Die Garnrolle liegt neben der Stoffkante.

But you could also say:

• Neben der Stoffkante liegt die Garnrolle.

This version emphasizes the location first. In both sentences, the verb liegt is still in the second position, which is the key rule for main clauses.

The plurals are:

• die Garnrolle → die Garnrollen
• die Stoffkante → die Stoffkanten

So the whole sentence in the plural could be:

• Die Garnrollen liegen neben den Stoffkanten.

Notice the changes:

• liegt → liegen because the subject is plural
• der Stoffkante → den Stoffkanten because neben still takes the dative for location, and now it is plural

In compounds, the first part often stays in a basic form:

• Garn + Rolle → Garnrolle
• Stoff + Kante → Stoffkante

German does sometimes add a linking element in compounds, such as -s- or -n-, but not always. These two compounds simply do not need one.

Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly.

• neben der Stoffkante = next to the fabric edge
• an der Stoffkante = at / on the fabric edge, often suggesting direct contact or a position right by the edge

So neben means nearby, while an often suggests being directly at that boundary or touching it.

They refer to different materials or sewing-related items.

• Stoff = fabric/cloth
• Garn = thread/yarn

So:

• Stoffkante = fabric edge
• Garnrolle = spool/roll of thread

A learner may confuse them because both are sewing words, but they are different things.

That depends on what is new or important information.

A neutral reading is:

• Die GARNrolle liegt neben der STOFFkante.

If you want to emphasize the location, you might stress:

• Die Garnrolle liegt NEben der Stoffkante.

If you are contrasting it with another object:

• Die GARNrolle liegt neben der Stoffkante.
  not the scissors, for example

In normal speech, German sentence stress usually falls on the most important new information.