Learn Hardcore German: Die Kinder sitzen im Garten und hören Musik. - The children sit in the garden and listen to music.

Die Kinder sitzen im Garten focuses on the posture/activity: they are sitting (not standing, running, etc.).
Die Kinder sind im Garten only says they are located in the garden, without saying what they’re doing there.

English often uses the continuous form “are sitting”, but German usually just uses the simple present:
Die Kinder sitzen im Garten. = “The children are sitting in the garden.”

So sitzen is chosen because the sentence wants to describe how they are in the garden (sitting), not just where they are.

Why is it im Garten and not in dem Garten?

Im is simply the contracted form of in dem:

in (in) + dem (the, dative masculine/neuter) → im

So:

in dem Garten = “in the garden”
im Garten = exactly the same meaning, just shorter and more natural in speech and writing.

German does this with some other combinations too:

an dem → am (e.g. am Tisch = at the table)
zu dem → zum (e.g. zum Arzt = to the doctor)
bei dem → beim, etc.

You can say in dem Garten, but in normal everyday German im Garten is preferred.

What case is im Garten, and why is that case used?

Im Garten is dative case.

Reason:

in is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition).
With these prepositions:
- Dative is used for location (where?).
- Accusative is used for direction/motion (where to?).

In this sentence, the children are already in the garden (location, no movement), so dative is used:

Wo sitzen die Kinder? – Im Garten. (dative)
Contrast: Wohin gehen die Kinder? – In den Garten. (accusative)

So im Garten = in dem Garten (dative masculine singular).

What gender does Garten have, and how can I tell?

Garten is masculine in German:

Nominative singular: der Garten
Dative singular: dem Garten → im Garten

You can see that the underlying form is dem Garten because of the contraction im = in dem.

There’s no fully reliable rule to predict gender, but some patterns help:

Many masculine nouns end in -en, -er, or are one-syllable concrete objects.
Garten (garden) is traditionally der Garten.

So in the sentence:

Die Kinder – plural
im Garten – masculine, dative singular.

Why is it hören and not hört?

Because the subject die Kinder is third person plural.

The verb hören (to listen/hear) in the present tense:

ich höre
du hörst
er/sie/es hört
wir hören
ihr hört
sie/Sie hören

Die Kinder = sie (they) → sie hören.

So we get:

Die Kinder sitzen im Garten und hören Musik.

If the subject were singular, the form would change:

Das Kind sitzt im Garten und hört Musik.

Why isn’t the subject repeated in the second part? Why not „Die Kinder sitzen im Garten und sie hören Musik“?

In both German and English, you usually don’t repeat the subject when two clauses share the same one:

English: “The children sit in the garden and (they) listen to music.”
German: Die Kinder sitzen im Garten und hören Musik.

The subject die Kinder applies to both verbs sitzen and hören, so German simply leaves it out in the second clause.

You can say:

Die Kinder sitzen im Garten, und sie hören Musik.

This is grammatically correct but sounds a bit heavier or more emphatic, and it suggests two more separate statements. The shorter version is more natural in everyday language.

What tense is this, and does it mean “are sitting” or “sit”?

The verbs sitzen and hören are in the present tense (Präsens).

In German, the simple present covers both:

English simple present:
Die Kinder sitzen im Garten. = “The children sit in the garden.” (habitual)
English present continuous:
Die Kinder sitzen im Garten. = “The children are sitting in the garden.” (right now)

Context decides which English translation is better. If you want to highlight that it’s happening right now, you can add an adverb:

Die Kinder sitzen gerade im Garten und hören Musik.
= “The children are sitting in the garden right now and listening to music.”

Why does the verb come in second position in Die Kinder sitzen im Garten?

This is the verb-second rule (V2) in main German clauses:

In a normal statement, the conjugated verb must be in second position.
“Second position” means: after the first element (which can be one word or a whole phrase).

Here:

First element: Die Kinder (subject)
Second element (mandatory verb position): sitzen
Rest of the sentence: im Garten und hören Musik

So:

Die Kinder – 1st element
sitzen – 2nd (V2)
im Garten und hören Musik – everything else

If you start with a different element, the verb still stays second:

Im Garten sitzen die Kinder und hören Musik.
Heute Nachmittag sitzen die Kinder im Garten und hören Musik.

Why is there no article before Musik?

Musik is usually treated as an uncountable / mass noun when you mean music in general. In German, such nouns often appear without an article when speaking generally:

Sie hören Musik. – “They are listening to music.”
Ich trinke Wasser. – “I drink water.”
Wir essen Brot. – “We eat bread.”

If you add an article, the meaning becomes more specific:

Sie hören die Musik. – They are listening to the music (some specific music already known in the situation).
Sie hören meine Musik. – They listen to my music.

In this sentence, it’s just music in general, so no article is the most natural.

Can I say Die Kinder sind im Garten und hören Musik? What’s the difference?

Yes, Die Kinder sind im Garten und hören Musik is grammatically correct.

Difference in nuance:

Die Kinder sitzen im Garten und hören Musik.
→ Emphasizes that they are sitting while listening.
Die Kinder sind im Garten und hören Musik.
→ Emphasizes mainly that they are in the garden; what they’re doing physically (sitting, standing, lying) is not specified.

Both can translate to:
“The children are in the garden and are listening to music.”
but the version with sitzen adds more detail about their posture.

Why is it die Kinder and not das Kind or der Kinder?

Kinder is the plural of Kind (child):

Singular: das Kind (neuter)
Plural: die Kinder

In the nominative plural, the definite article is always die, regardless of gender in the singular:

die Männer (plural of der Mann)
die Frauen (plural of die Frau)
die Kinder (plural of das Kind)

So die Kinder is nominative plural and functions as the subject.
Der Kinder would be genitive plural (“of the children”), which doesn’t fit here.

What is the function of und here? Is hören Musik a full clause?

Und is a coordinating conjunction linking two main verb phrases that share the same subject:

(Die Kinder) sitzen im Garten
(Die Kinder) hören Musik

Because the subject die Kinder is the same for both, it’s dropped in the second part:

Die Kinder sitzen im Garten und hören Musik.

Grammatically, after und, we still have a main clause structure (verb in second position if we counted the omitted subject as position 1). But since the subject is understood, we see just:

und hören Musik

So hören Musik is part of a second coordinated clause with an implied subject.