Learn Hardcore German: Im Stadion sitzen Freundinnen und Freunde auf der höchsten Tribüne und feuern uns laut an. - In the stadium friends sit on the highest stand and cheer us on loudly.

Exactly one element (a word or a phrase) can come before the finite verb (here: sitzen).
That element is often the subject, but it doesn’t have to be.

In this sentence:

Im Stadion = one complete element (a prepositional phrase)
sitzen = the conjugated verb (finite verb)
Freundinnen und Freunde = the subject

So the structure is:

[Im Stadion] [sitzen] [Freundinnen und Freunde] ...

If you start with the subject, you would say:

Freundinnen und Freunde sitzen im Stadion ...

Both are correct; putting Im Stadion first just emphasizes where they are.

Why is it Im Stadion and not In dem Stadion?

Im is simply the contracted form of in dem:

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

So:

Im Stadion = In dem Stadion

Both are grammatically correct. Im is far more natural in everyday speech and writing unless you are stressing dem for contrast (which is rare).

Why is sitzen used here instead of sind? In English we’d just say “are sitting / are” in the stadium.

German often uses specific posture verbs instead of the general verb sein:

sitzen = to be in a sitting position
stehen = to be standing
liegen = to be lying

So:

Im Stadion sitzen Freundinnen und Freunde ...
literally: In the stadium sit (are sitting) friends...

You could say:

Im Stadion sind Freundinnen und Freunde ...

That is grammatically correct, but sitzen adds the detail that they are sitting, which sounds more vivid and natural here.

Why is it Freundinnen und Freunde instead of just Freunde?

Freundinnen und Freunde is a way of using gender‑inclusive language in German:

Freund (singular, masculine)
Freundin (singular, feminine)
Freunde (plural – traditionally “male friends” or a mixed group, but feels male‑default)
Freundinnen (plural, female friends)

By saying Freundinnen und Freunde, the speaker explicitly mentions both women and men. It’s similar to saying “female and male friends” or “friends (women and men)” in English.

In many contexts, Freunde alone could work, but some speakers prefer the explicit inclusive form.

Why is auf der höchsten Tribüne in the dative case and not accusative? Doesn’t auf sometimes take the accusative?

The preposition auf is a two‑way preposition:
It can take dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:

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

In this sentence, we describe a location:

They are on the highest stand. (no movement to a new place)

So we use dative:

auf der höchsten Tribüne (dative feminine singular: der)

If we described movement, we’d use accusative:

Sie gehen auf die höchste Tribüne.
They go up to the highest stand.

Why is it der höchsten Tribüne and not something like die höchste Tribüne?

Several things are happening here:

Tribüne is feminine: die Tribüne.
After auf with location, we use dative → der Tribüne.
höchsten is the superlative adjective of hoch (high).

In dative feminine with a definite article, the adjective ending is ‑en:

Nominative: die hohe / die höchste Tribüne
Dative: auf der hohen / auf der höchsten Tribüne

So auf der höchsten Tribüne = on the highest stand, with:

auf → preposition
der → dative feminine article
höchsten → superlative adjective (dative feminine with article)
Tribüne → feminine noun

What exactly is going on with feuern ... an? Why is an at the end of the clause?

anfeuern is a separable verb in German:

Infinitive: anfeuern (to cheer on, to spur on)
- an = separable prefix
- feuern = main part

In a main clause in the present tense, the separable prefix normally moves to the end:

Sie feuern uns an.
(They cheer us on.)

In the infinitive or in subordinate clauses, it stays together:

... um uns anzufeuern. (in order to cheer us on)
..., weil sie uns anfeuern. (because they cheer us on)

So in und feuern uns laut an, an appears at the end because that’s the standard pattern for separable verbs in a main clause.

Why is it feuern uns laut an and not feuern laut uns an?

German has fairly strong preferences for the order of objects and adverbs.

Pronouns usually come before other objects and most adverbs.
Adverbs like laut (loudly) are fairly flexible but often come after pronouns and before or before/after the separable prefix.

So:

Sie feuern uns laut an.
→ very natural
Sie feuern laut uns an.
→ sounds odd, almost like stressing uns in a strange way

Other possible word orders:

Sie feuern uns an, laut. (colloquial, with a pause)
Sie feuern uns sehr laut an. (adds an intensifier)

The given order uns laut an is normal and idiomatic.

Why is it uns and not wir?

wir and uns are different cases of the same pronoun:

wir = nominative (we) → subject
uns = accusative (us) → direct object or other object

In the sentence:

Who is doing the cheering? → Freundinnen und Freunde (subject → nominative)
Whom are they cheering? → uns (object → accusative)

So we must use uns:

... und feuern uns laut an.
... and cheer us on loudly.

Why is laut used without any ending here? Could it be laute or lauten?

Here laut is an adverb, describing how they cheer: loudly.

Adjectives before nouns in German change endings:
- laute Musik (loud music)
- mit lauter Musik (with loud music)
But adverbs do not change form:
- Sie singen laut. (They sing loudly.)
- Sie feuern uns laut an. (They cheer us on loudly.)

So no ending is added in the adverb position. laute or lauten would be wrong here.

Is Stadion neuter? How can I tell from this sentence?

Yes, Stadion is a neuter noun: das Stadion.

You can see this from the contraction im:

im = in + dem (dative masculine or neuter)

That alone doesn’t distinguish masculine vs neuter, but if you check a dictionary, you’ll see das Stadion.

In the dative singular:

masculine: in dem Park → im Park
neuter: in dem Stadion → im Stadion

So Stadion belongs to the neuter gender class.

Could the sentence also be Im Stadion sind Freundinnen und Freunde auf der höchsten Tribüne und feuern uns laut an? If so, what’s the difference?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct:

Im Stadion sind Freundinnen und Freunde auf der höchsten Tribüne und feuern uns laut an.

Differences in nuance:

With sitzen, you explicitly say they are sitting, which creates a more concrete scene and matches the image of people on seats on a stand.
With sind, you simply say they are there; their posture is not specified.

So:

sitzen → more specific, more visual
sind → more neutral, less detailed

In a sports or stadium context, sitzen sounds a bit more vivid and idiomatic when talking about people in the stands.

Why are Freundinnen, Freunde, Stadion, and Tribüne capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of where they appear in the sentence.

In this sentence:

Freundinnen – noun (friends, female)
Freunde – noun (friends, male/mixed)
Stadion – noun (stadium)
Tribüne – noun (stand, tier)

Adjectives (höchsten, laut) and verbs (sitzen, feuern, an) are not capitalized (except at the start of a sentence or in titles).

So capitalization here is simply following the basic rule: nouns get capital letters.