Learn Hardcore German: Auf dem Hügel stehen ein paar Große und schauen still in den Sternenhimmel. - On the hill a few grown‑ups stand and quietly look at the starry sky.

ein paar means a few / some and always refers to more than one thing or person.
Because it refers to multiple people, the verb must be plural: sie stehen → stehen.

So the underlying structure is: Ein paar Große stehen auf dem Hügel.
Plural subject → plural verb stehen.

Why does the verb stehen come before ein paar Große? I thought the verb was supposed to be in the second position.

The verb ist in the second position — just not in terms of word count, but sentence elements.

The sentence begins with the prepositional phrase Auf dem Hügel. In German, you can move such a phrase to the front for emphasis or style. When you do that, the verb still has to be the second element:

Auf dem Hügel (1st element)
stehen (2nd element = finite verb)
ein paar Große (subject)
und schauen still in den Sternenhimmel (rest)

If you don’t front the prepositional phrase, you get the more “neutral” word order:

Ein paar Große stehen auf dem Hügel und schauen still in den Sternenhimmel.

Why is it Auf dem Hügel and not auf den Hügel?

The preposition auf can take either dative or accusative:

Dative → location (where something is)
Accusative → direction / movement (where something is going)

Here, it describes a location: the people are on the hill, not moving onto it. So you use dative:

auf dem Hügel = on the hill (location, dative)
auf den Hügel = onto the hill (movement, accusative)

So dem is masculine dative singular for der Hügel.

Why is Große capitalized, and what does it literally mean?

Große is capitalized because it’s a nominalized adjective (an adjective used as a noun).

groß = big / tall (adjective)
der Große (literally: the tall [one]) = a tall person
die Großen = the tall people / the grown‑ups (depending on context)

In ein paar Große, the adjective groß gets an ending (-e) and is written with a capital letter because it is standing in for a noun, typically something like Menschen, Leute, or Personen. So it roughly means a few tall people or a few grown‑ups, depending on the context.

Why is it ein paar Große and not ein paar Großen?

After ein paar, adjectives normally take the strong plural ending in the nominative, which is -e:

ein paar alte Bücher
ein paar junge Leute
ein paar Große

So:

Case: nominative (subject of the sentence)
Number: plural
Adjective ending: -e → Große, not Großen

Großen would be correct in other cases, e.g. accusative plural after a definite article:

Ich sehe die Großen. (accusative plural: die Großen)

What is the difference between ein paar, paar, and ein Paar?

These three look similar but mean different things:

ein paar (lowercase paar)
- Means a few / some
- It behaves like a sort of quantity word
- Example: ein paar Große, ein paar Freunde, ein paar Tage
paar without ein
- Often somewhat more formal or idiomatic, still meaning roughly “a few”, but less common in everyday speech in this position; you’ll see it in set phrases like seit paar Tagen in colloquial German, but that’s less standard.
ein Paar (capital Paar)
- A noun meaning a pair / a couple (two of something)
- Example: ein Paar Schuhe (a pair of shoes), ein Paar Socken

So in your sentence it must be ein paar Große (a few tall people), not ein Paar Große (which would literally suggest a pair of tall people).

Does still mean the same as English still?

No. This is a classic false friend.

German still = quiet(ly), silent(ly)
- still sein = to be quiet
- still schauen = to look silently / quietly
English still = German immer noch, noch, or immerhin, depending on context.

So in the sentence, schauen still in den Sternenhimmel means they look silently into the starry sky, not they still look.

Why is it in den Sternenhimmel and not im Sternenhimmel or in dem Sternenhimmel?

The preposition in can also take dative (location) or accusative (direction):

in dem Sternenhimmel / im Sternenhimmel → in the starry sky (location, dative)
in den Sternenhimmel → into the starry sky (direction, accusative)

Here, it’s about the direction of their gaze — where they are looking:

in den Sternenhimmel schauen = to look up into the starry sky

So den is masculine accusative singular of der Sternenhimmel. The accusative fits because something (their gaze) is going into the sky.

What exactly does Sternenhimmel mean, and what gender is it?

Sternenhimmel is a compound noun:

der Stern = star
der Himmel = sky / heaven

Combined: der Sternenhimmel = starry sky, literally star-sky.

Its gender is masculine (like Himmel), so:

Nominative: der Sternenhimmel
Accusative: den Sternenhimmel (as in your sentence)
Dative: dem Sternenhimmel
Genitive: des Sternenhimmels

How are stehen and schauen connected grammatically? Is this one clause or two?

It’s essentially two main clauses joined by und, but the subject is only stated once and then omitted in the second clause:

Auf dem Hügel stehen ein paar Große.
(Ein paar Große) schauen still in den Sternenhimmel.

Joined:

Auf dem Hügel stehen ein paar Große und schauen still in den Sternenhimmel.

German often omits a repeated subject in coordinated clauses if it’s clear from context. Both verbs, stehen and schauen, share the same subject ein paar Große.

Can this sentence be rephrased in a more neutral or straightforward word order?

Yes. A very neutral version would be:

Ein paar Große stehen auf dem Hügel und schauen still in den Sternenhimmel.

Same meaning, but:

Subject first (ein paar Große)
Then the verb (stehen)
Then the place (auf dem Hügel)
Then the coordinated action (und schauen still in den Sternenhimmel)

The original version simply puts Auf dem Hügel at the beginning for stylistic or descriptive effect.