Learn Hardcore German: In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm, und neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche mit Tee. - In my new sleeping bag it is warm, and next to me there is a thermos flask of tea.

German main clauses follow the verb‑second (V2) rule: the conjugated verb must be in the second position, but anything can be in the first position for emphasis.

Both of these are correct:

Es ist warm in meinem neuen Schlafsack. (neutral word order)
In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm. (emphasis on in my new sleeping bag)

By putting In meinem neuen Schlafsack first, the speaker highlights where it is warm. This is a common stylistic choice in German: fronting a place or time expression for emphasis, then inverting subject and verb.

What is the role of es in ist es warm? Could you just say ist warm?

In German you normally cannot drop the subject; you need something in the subject position. Here es is a dummy / placeholder subject (similar to English it in It is warm).

Es ist warm. – It is warm.
In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm.

You cannot say *In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist warm in standard German; that sounds incomplete because the subject is missing.

You might also hear:

In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist mir warm.

Here mir is a dative pronoun meaning I feel warm (in there), which shifts the focus from the general situation to the speaker’s personal feeling.

Why is it meinem neuen Schlafsack and not mein neuer Schlafsack?

This is about case and adjective endings.

The preposition in can take either dative (location) or accusative (direction).
- Location (where?) → dative
  - In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm.
    (Where is it warm? In my new sleeping bag.)
- Direction (into where?) → accusative
  - Ich gehe in meinen neuen Schlafsack. (I go into my new sleeping bag.)
Schlafsack is masculine, so the dative singular of mein is:
- masculine dative: meinem
- adjective after possessive in dative masculine: -en → neuen
- noun: Schlafsack

So you get: in meinem neuen Schlafsack (preposition + dative masculine).

Why is it neben mir and not neben mich?

The preposition neben (beside, next to) is another two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition) and can take dative or accusative:

Dative → location (where?)
Accusative → direction (to where?)

In the sentence:

neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche

This describes a location: Where is the thermos? Next to me.
So you use the dative:

ich → mir (dative)
ich → mich (accusative)

If you talked about movement to a position beside you, you’d use accusative:

Er setzt sich neben mich. – He sits down next to me. (movement towards a spot)

Why is it steht eine Thermosflasche and not ist eine Thermosflasche?

German often uses specific “posture verbs” for the position of objects instead of just sein (to be):

stehen – to stand / to be standing (upright position)
liegen – to lie / to be lying (horizontal position)
sitzen – to sit / to be sitting

A bottle normally stands upright, so:

Neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche.
literally: Next to me stands a thermos flask.
natural English: Next to me there is a thermos flask.

You can say Neben mir ist eine Thermosflasche, but it sounds less natural; Germans prefer stehen/liegen/sitzen to indicate how something is positioned.

Why is the word order neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche and not eine Thermosflasche steht neben mir?

Both orders are grammatically correct:

Neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche mit Tee.
Eine Thermosflasche mit Tee steht neben mir.

Again, this is the V2 rule plus emphasis:

In Neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche, the phrase neben mir is in the first position → the verb steht must come second → the subject eine Thermosflasche comes after the verb.
This emphasizes the location (next to me).
In Eine Thermosflasche steht neben mir, the subject eine Thermosflasche is in the first position. This emphasizes the existence of the object more than its position.

The original version fits nicely with the first clause, which already fronted a place phrase (In meinem neuen Schlafsack ...).

Why is it eine Thermosflasche and not ein Thermosflasche?

This is a matter of grammatical gender:

die Flasche (bottle) – feminine
die Thermosflasche – also feminine (compound nouns in German take the gender of the last part)

So:

Nominative feminine singular: eine
Nominative masculine/neuter singular: ein

Since Thermosflasche is feminine, you must say:

eine Thermosflasche (not *ein Thermosflasche)

Why are Schlafsack, Thermosflasche, and Tee capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence.

der Schlafsack – sleeping bag
die Thermosflasche – thermos flask
der Tee – tea

This is a key spelling rule: every noun (and certain noun-like words) starts with a capital letter.

Why is it mit Tee and not mit dem Tee?

Both are grammatically correct but have slightly different meanings:

mit Tee
→ with tea (in general, some tea, an unspecified amount)
Similar to English with tea.
mit dem Tee
→ with the tea (a specific tea that both speakers know about, e.g. the tea we just made).

In the sentence eine Thermosflasche mit Tee, the content is being described in a general way: a thermos flask with (some) tea in it, so no article is needed.

Could you also say In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist mir warm? What’s the difference from ist es warm?

Yes, you can say:

In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist mir warm.

Difference:

Es ist warm (in meinem neuen Schlafsack).
→ describes the general temperature; the environment is warm.
Mir ist warm (in meinem neuen Schlafsack).
→ describes how you feel; I feel warm.

So:

In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm – the sleeping bag is warm inside.
In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist mir warm – I feel warm when I’m in it.

Both can be correct in context; the original sentence focuses on the environment rather than the personal sensation.

What is the difference between warm and heiß here? Could I say heiß?

German distinguishes:

warm – warm, pleasantly warm
heiß – hot, very hot (often too hot)

For a comfortable temperature in a sleeping bag, warm is the natural choice:

In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm. – It is (nicely) warm.

If you said:

In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es heiß.

that would suggest it’s uncomfortably hot or at least very hot. Grammatically correct, but a different feeling.

Why is there a comma before und? Is it obligatory?

The sentence has two main clauses:

In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm
neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche mit Tee

Each has its own verb (ist, steht) and its own structure. In modern standard German:

When two independent main clauses are joined by und, the comma is optional if they share a subject, but
When they are clearly separate clauses (as here), using a comma is preferred and usually taught as correct.

So:

In meinem neuen Schlafsack ist es warm, und neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche mit Tee. ✅
(Clearly marking two clauses.)

Writing it without the comma is sometimes seen but is less standard in careful writing.

Could you say Bei mir steht eine Thermosflasche instead of Neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche?

You can say Bei mir steht eine Thermosflasche, but it doesn’t mean quite the same thing.

neben mir – physically right next to me (spatial, very literal)
bei mir – more general at my place / with me / in my vicinity / in my possession

So:

Neben mir steht eine Thermosflasche mit Tee.
→ The thermos is literally standing next to me.
Bei mir steht eine Thermosflasche mit Tee.
→ There is a thermos with me / at my place (less precise about exact position).

In the context of a physical scene (e.g. lying in a tent), neben mir is the more direct and concrete choice.