Learn Hardcore German: Die Sonne scheint, aber hinter dem Haus liegt ein langer Schatten. - The sun is shining, but behind the house there is a long shadow.

hinter is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition). When it describes a static location (wo? – where?), it takes the dative case. Haus is neuter (das Haus), so its dative singular article is dem, giving hinter dem Haus.

When would hinter take the accusative instead of the dative?

If you express movement toward a place (wohin? – where to?), hinter takes the accusative.
Example:
• Ich gehe hinter das Haus
(I go behind the house — motion toward that spot.)

Why does lang in ein langer Schatten have the -er ending?

German adjectives must reflect gender, case and number of the noun:

Schatten is masculine, singular, nominative.
The indefinite article ein does not fully mark gender/case here.

Therefore the adjective takes a strong ending -er to signal masculine nominative: ein langer Schatten.

Why does the subject ein langer Schatten come after the verb liegt?

German main clauses follow the Verb-Second (V2) rule. Since the clause begins with the adverbial phrase aber hinter dem Haus, the finite verb liegt must occupy position 2, so the subject moves to position 3:
1) aber hinter dem Haus
2) liegt
3) ein langer Schatten

Why is liegen used here instead of sein?

German distinguishes between different “to be” verbs for location versus existence:

liegen describes a horizontal or fixed position (suitable for a shadow lying on the ground).
sein simply marks existence or identity without positional nuance.

Hence liegt is more precise for a shadow’s location.

Why is there a comma before aber?

When two independent clauses are joined by the coordinating conjunction aber, German requires a comma:
Clause 1, aber Clause 2.
So you write Die Sonne scheint, aber hinter dem Haus liegt ein langer Schatten.

Why are Sonne, Haus, and Schatten capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized regardless of their position in the sentence. That’s why Sonne, Haus and Schatten always start with uppercase letters.

What does scheint mean in Die Sonne scheint? Could it mean seems?

The verb scheinen has two main senses:
1) to shine (as with the sun or another light source)
2) to seem or appear (e.g. Es scheint, dass…)

Context tells you which is meant. With Sonne, it clearly means “shines.”

How do I know which article to use for Sonne, Haus, and Schatten?

Every German noun has a fixed gender (feminine, masculine or neuter):

die Sonne (feminine)
das Haus (neuter)
der Schatten (masculine)

Unfortunately there are few reliable rules for gender, so you generally learn each noun together with its article.