Learn Hardcore German: Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich. - The female opponent remains friendly after the game.

Gegnerin is specifically a female opponent. The ending -in is a common way to form the feminine version of many nouns that refer to people:

der Lehrer → die Lehrerin (male teacher → female teacher)
der Spieler → die Spielerin (male player → female player)
der Gegner → die Gegnerin (male opponent → female opponent)

So Gegnerin tells you explicitly that the opponent is female.

Why is it Die Gegnerin and not Der Gegnerin at the beginning of the sentence?

The subject of the sentence is Gegnerin, which is a feminine noun.

In the nominative case (the case used for the subject), the definite articles are:

der – masculine
die – feminine
das – neuter
die – plural

Because Gegnerin is feminine and is the subject, you must use die:
Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich.

Der Gegnerin would be wrong here, because der with a feminine noun appears in other cases (e.g. dative or genitive), not in the nominative.

Why is it bleibt and not ist? What is the difference?

Both ist and bleibt can link the subject to an adjective, but they express different ideas:

ist freundlich = is friendly (a simple description of the current state)
bleibt freundlich = remains/stays friendly (she continues to be friendly; she does not stop being friendly)

So:

Die Gegnerin ist nach dem Spiel freundlich.
– The opponent is friendly after the game (neutral statement of fact).
Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich.
– The opponent remains friendly after the game (maybe despite reasons not to; there’s a small hint of contrast or persistence).

Bleibt is the 3rd person singular of bleiben in the present tense:

ich bleibe
du bleibst
er/sie/es bleibt
wir bleiben
ihr bleibt
sie bleiben

Why does nach dem Spiel use dem and not das (since the base form is das Spiel)?

The base (dictionary) form is das Spiel (neuter, nominative singular).

The preposition nach always takes the dative case when it means after (in time). In the dative case, the neuter article das changes to dem:

Nominative: das Spiel
Dative: dem Spiel

So:

nach + das Spiel → nach dem Spiel

This is simply the preposition–case rule:
nach + dative → nach dem Spiel, nach dem Unterricht, nach der Arbeit, etc.

Why is freundlich not freundliche or freundlichen here?

In German, adjectives behave differently depending on their function:

Attributive adjectives (placed directly before a noun) take endings:
- die freundliche Gegnerin – the friendly opponent
- des freundlichen Gegners – of the friendly opponent
Predicate adjectives (used after verbs like sein, werden, bleiben) do not take endings. They stay in their base form:
- Die Gegnerin ist freundlich. – The opponent is friendly.
- Die Gegnerin bleibt freundlich. – The opponent remains friendly.

In the sentence Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich,
freundlich is a predicate adjective after bleibt,
so it must be in the base form freundlich, not freundliche/freundlichen.

Can I move nach dem Spiel to a different position, like: Die Gegnerin bleibt freundlich nach dem Spiel?

Yes, you can move nach dem Spiel. German word order is flexible in the middle field (the part between the conjugated verb and the sentence-final elements).

These variants are all grammatically correct:

Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich.
Die Gegnerin bleibt freundlich nach dem Spiel.

The meaning is essentially the same: she is friendly after the game.

Very rough nuance:

bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich: slightly more neutral/common.
bleibt freundlich nach dem Spiel: places a tiny bit more emphasis on freundlich, then situates it in time, but in everyday speech the difference is minimal.

You cannot, however, move bleibt away from the second position in this simple main clause, and you normally keep freundlich close to bleibt, because it belongs to the predicate.

How would I say this in the past: “The opponent stayed friendly after the game”?

The most natural past form in everyday German uses Perfekt (present perfect) with ist geblieben:

Die Gegnerin ist nach dem Spiel freundlich geblieben.

Breakdown:

ist – auxiliary verb (3rd person singular of sein)
geblieben – past participle of bleiben
freundlich geblieben – stayed/remained friendly

A less common, more written-style option is the Präteritum (simple past):

Die Gegnerin blieb nach dem Spiel freundlich.

Both are correct. In spoken German, ist … geblieben is preferred; in written narratives, blieb is also very common.

Is bleiben here acting like a normal verb of action, or like a linking verb (like sein)?

In this sentence, bleiben functions as a linking verb (also called a copular verb), similar to sein:

Die Gegnerin bleibt freundlich.
Subject – linking verb – predicate adjective

Other common German linking verbs include:

sein – to be
werden – to become
bleiben – to remain

With these verbs, adjectives after them are predicate adjectives and take no endings:

Sie ist nett. – She is kind.
Sie wird nervös. – She becomes nervous.
Sie bleibt freundlich. – She remains friendly.

What is the difference between freundlich and nett in German?

Both freundlich and nett can translate as friendly or nice, but there are nuances:

freundlich
- slightly more neutral or formal
- often used in customer-service or polite contexts
- describes someone’s manner: polite, courteous, pleasant
- e.g. eine freundliche Verkäuferin – a friendly (polite) saleswoman
nett
- more colloquial and informal
- often means nice in a general, personal way
- e.g. Sie ist sehr nett. – She is very nice.

In the sentence Die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich,
freundlich suggests she behaves in a polite, fair, sportsmanlike way, even after competition.
You could say nett too, but freundlich fits slightly better for a neutral description of behavior.

Is Gegnerin only used for sports, or can it also mean “opponent” in other situations?

Gegnerin (and Gegner) is quite general. It can be used in:

Sports and games:
- Meine Gegnerin im Tennis war sehr gut. – My opponent in tennis was very good.
Debates, politics, arguments:
- Sie ist eine entschiedene Gegnerin dieses Plans. – She is a determined opponent of this plan.
More hostile contexts (like “enemy”):
- Sie war eine alte Gegnerin der Regierung. – She was a long-time opponent of the government.

If you specifically mean an opposing player in a game, you might also hear Gegenspielerin, but Gegnerin is very common and fully correct for both sports and non-sports contexts.

How do I make the plural “the opponents” if they are all female?

The plural of die Gegnerin is die Gegnerinnen.

Singular: die Gegnerin bleibt nach dem Spiel freundlich.
Plural: die Gegnerinnen bleiben nach dem Spiel freundlich.

Changes:

Gegnerin → Gegnerinnen (add -nen for the plural)
bleibt → bleiben (3rd person plural of bleiben)
die stays die in the plural (same form as feminine singular, but now plural).

If the group is mixed or you don’t want to specify gender, you can use the generic Gegner in the plural:

die Gegner bleiben nach dem Spiel freundlich.