Learn Hardcore German: Im Museum bewundern wir das alte Gemälde. - In the museum we admire the old painting.

im Museum = in dem Museum → you are already inside the museum (location, static).
ins Museum = in das Museum → you are going into the museum (movement, direction).

In the sentence Im Museum bewundern wir das alte Gemälde, the action happens inside the museum, so the static form im (dative) is used.

Why is Museum capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence.
Museum is a noun, so it is written with a capital M: Museum.
The same applies to Gemälde in this sentence.

What case is Museum in, and why?

Museum is in the dative case.

Reason:

It follows the preposition in.
in can take either accusative (movement) or dative (location).
Here it describes location: in the museum → no movement.

So you get in dem Museum (dative), which contracts to im Museum.

Why is the verb bewundern in the second position, after Im Museum?

German main clauses follow the V2 rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position.

The first position can be:

the subject (Wir bewundern …) or
some other element like a place or time (Im Museum bewundern wir …).

In Im Museum bewundern wir das alte Gemälde:

Im Museum = first position
bewundern = second position (the finite verb)
wir = subject that comes after the verb

This word order is normal and very common in German.

Could I also say Wir bewundern das alte Gemälde im Museum? Is it the same?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct and means essentially the same thing.

Differences:

Wir bewundern das alte Gemälde im Museum.
→ Neutral, straightforward word order; starts with the subject.
Im Museum bewundern wir das alte Gemälde.
→ Emphasizes where the action takes place (the museum).

German allows flexible word order, but the verb must stay in second position.

Why is it wir bewundern and not something like wir bewundere?

Bewundern is the infinitive to admire. It must be conjugated to match the subject wir (we).

Present tense conjugation of bewundern:

ich bewundere (I admire)
du bewunderst (you admire, singular informal)
er/sie/es bewundert (he/she/it admires)
wir bewundern (we admire)
ihr bewundert (you admire, plural informal)
sie/Sie bewundern (they / you formal admire)

So with wir, the correct form is wir bewundern.

What does das alte Gemälde mean exactly, and what is its grammatical role?

das alte Gemälde means the old painting.

Grammatically:

It is the direct object of the verb bewundern (what is admired).
That means it is in the accusative case.

Structure:

das = the (neuter, accusative singular)
alte = old (adjective describing Gemälde)
Gemälde = painting (neuter noun)

How do I know that das here is accusative and not nominative?

For neuter nouns, das looks the same in nominative and accusative:

nominative singular: das
accusative singular: das
dative singular: dem
genitive singular: des

So you determine the case from the function in the sentence:

Subject → nominative
Direct object → accusative

In Im Museum bewundern wir das alte Gemälde:

wir = subject (nominative)
bewundern = verb
das alte Gemälde = direct object (accusative)

Therefore, das is accusative here.

Why is it das alte Gemälde and not das alter Gemälde or dem alten Gemälde?

Two things are going on: case and adjective ending.

Case
- Gemälde is the direct object, so it must be accusative.
- Neuter accusative singular definite article is das, not dem.
  (So dem alten Gemälde would be dative, not accusative.)
Adjective ending
With a definite article das and a neuter noun in accusative singular, the adjective takes -e:
- das alte Gemälde

So das alte Gemälde is the correct accusative form.

What gender is Gemälde, and how do I know?

Gemälde is neuter (das Gemälde).

You usually have to learn the gender together with the noun:

das Gemälde – the painting
Dictionaries indicate gender with m / f / n or with the article (der / die / das).

Some word endings tend to be neuter (like -chen, -lein, -ment, -tum, -um), but -älde is not a common pattern, so this one is mainly memorization.

How do you pronounce Gemälde, especially the ä?

Gemälde is pronounced approximately: [guh-MEHLD-uh].

Details:

Ge-: like guh (short vowel, unstressed)
-mä-: ä here sounds like “e” in “bed”, but slightly longer.
-lde: ld like in English “old”, then a short uh sound at the end.

The main stress is on -mäld-: ge-MÄLD-e.

Why do I need the pronoun wir? In English we can drop the subject sometimes.

In German, you must explicitly state the subject pronoun in normal sentences.
You cannot drop it the way you sometimes do in English or other languages (like Spanish).

So:

Correct: Im Museum bewundern wir das alte Gemälde.
Incorrect: Im Museum bewundern das alte Gemälde. (missing subject)

The verb ending alone is not enough; the pronoun wir is required.

Is bewundern a separable verb? Why doesn’t anything split off?

Bewundern is not a separable verb; it is inseparable.

Clue:

Verbs with the prefixes be-, ge-, ver-, zer-, ent-, er-, miss- (and a few others) are usually inseparable.
Inseparable verbs do not split in main clauses and the prefix is never stressed.

So:

Wir bewundern das Gemälde. (stays together)
Not: Wir wundern… or anything like that.

Does Im Museum mean “in the museum” or “at the museum”? How is that distinction handled in German?

Im Museum literally means in the museum (inside the building).

However, depending on context, it can sometimes be translated as at the museum if English would normally say that. German often uses in where English might prefer at:

im Kino = in/at the cinema
in der Schule = in/at school

Context will tell you whether to use in or at in English, but the German phrase im Museum itself means inside the museum.