Learn Hardcore German: Der Kurs fand letztes Jahr noch online statt. - Last year the course still took place online.

German has two main past tenses: Präteritum (simple past) and Perfekt (present perfect). In your sentence, fand … statt is the Präteritum form of the separable verb stattfinden. In everyday spoken German and informal writing, speakers often prefer the Perfekt:
• Präteritum: Der Kurs fand letztes Jahr noch online statt.
• Perfekt: Der Kurs hat letztes Jahr noch online stattgefunden.
Both are correct; Präteritum is more common in formal texts and narratives, while Perfekt is standard in spoken language.

What is stattfinden, and why does statt appear at the end of the sentence?

stattfinden means “to take place” or “to occur.” It’s a separable-prefix verb: the prefix statt detaches when the verb is conjugated and moves to the end of the clause. In Präteritum:
• finden → fand
• plus detached prefix → statt
Result: fand … statt.

What does noch mean in this sentence, and why is it placed directly before online?

Here, noch means “still.” It signals that last year the course was still held online (implying it isn’t online anymore). In German sentence structure, adverbs typically precede the word or phrase they modify, so noch is placed right before online.

Why is letztes Jahr used without im, and what case is it?

letztes Jahr is an adverbial time expression in the accusative case (neuter singular). German often uses bare accusative for time expressions:
• letztes Jahr = “last year.”
Alternatively, you can say im letzten Jahr (“in the last year”) using the preposition in + dative.

Why isn’t there an article before online, and why isn’t online capitalized?

In this sentence, online functions as an adverb of manner (“in an online format”). Adverbs in German are neither capitalized nor do they take articles. If you turned it into a noun—say, die Online-Version—then it would be capitalized and require an article.

Is there a specific word-order rule in this sentence?

Yes. German main clauses often follow the Time-Manner-Place (TMP) order. In Der Kurs fand letztes Jahr noch online statt you have:

Time: letztes Jahr
Manner: noch online
Place: (none here)
… then the verb components fand … statt.

Can I change the order of noch online and letztes Jahr?

You can swap time and manner adverbials for emphasis—e.g. Der Kurs fand noch online letztes Jahr statt—but the neutral, most common order is Time before Manner. Changing it shifts the focus onto whichever element you place first.