In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich im Schlafsaal mit acht anderen Gästen.

In the youth hostel I sleep in a dormitory with eight other guests.

Breakdown of In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich im Schlafsaal mit acht anderen Gästen.

• in: in
• ich: I
• mit: with
• schlafen: to sleep
• acht: eight
• der Gast: the guest
• im: in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• der: the; (feminine, dative)
• ander: other
• die Jugendherberge: the youth hostel
• der Schlafsaal: the dormitory

Questions & Answers about In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich im Schlafsaal mit acht anderen Gästen.

Why is it “In der Jugendherberge” and not “in die Jugendherberge”?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative:

• Dative → location (where something is)
• Accusative → direction/motion (where something is going to)

In this sentence, you are already in the youth hostel when you’re sleeping, so it’s about location:

• In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich … = I sleep in the youth hostel (location → dative).

If it were about going there, you’d use the accusative:

• Ich gehe in die Jugendherberge. = I’m going into the youth hostel (direction → accusative).

Why does the sentence start with “In der Jugendherberge” and then the verb “schlafe” comes next?

German main clauses follow the “verb-second” (V2) rule: the conjugated verb is always in second position, but the first position does not have to be the subject.

Here:

1. In der Jugendherberge = first position (a place/time phrase moved to the front for emphasis)
2. schlafe = conjugated verb (must be in second position)
3. ich im Schlafsaal mit acht anderen Gästen = rest of the sentence

You could also say:

• Ich schlafe in der Jugendherberge im Schlafsaal mit acht anderen Gästen.

Same meaning; the difference is just emphasis and style.

What does “im Schlafsaal” mean exactly, and why is it “im” and not “in dem”?

“im” is simply the contraction of “in dem”:

• in + dem → im

Schlafsaal is masculine: der Schlafsaal.
With in expressing location, you need the dative case:

• in dem Schlafsaal → im Schlafsaal

Meaning: “in the dormitory (hall/dorm room)”.

Both “in dem Schlafsaal” and “im Schlafsaal” are grammatically correct, but “im” is by far more common in speech and writing.

Why is it “mit acht anderen Gästen” and not “mit acht andere Gäste”?

Two separate grammar points:

1. The preposition “mit” always takes the dative case.
   So after mit, the noun must be in dative:

   • Nominative plural: die Gäste
   • Dative plural: den Gästen

   That’s why we get Gästen (with an extra -n).

2. Adjective ending in dative plural.
   In dative plural, any adjective before the noun takes -en:

   • mit anderen Gästen
   • mit netten Gästen
   • mit acht anderen Gästen

So:

• mit acht anderen Gästen = with eight other guests
  (mit → dative; anderen → dative plural adjective; Gästen → dative plural noun)

Why does “Gästen” have -en at the end instead of just “Gäste”?

Because it is dative plural.

The noun:

• Nominative plural: die Gäste
• Dative plural: den Gästen

In German, most nouns in dative plural add an extra -n (if they don’t already end in -n):

• mit den Kindern
• mit den Freunden
• mit den Gästen

Here, mit forces the dative, so the correct form is Gästen, not Gäste.

Why is it “anderen” and not “andere” in “acht anderen Gästen”?

Again, this is about dative plural adjective endings.

Pattern:
In dative plural, adjectives before a noun take -en, regardless of whether there is a number in front:

• mit guten Freunden
• mit vielen netten Leuten
• mit acht anderen Gästen

So:

• Case: dative plural (because of mit)
• Adjective: andere-
• Required ending: -n → anderen

Why doesn’t “acht” change its form? Should it have a case ending too?

Cardinal numbers from 2 upward (zwei, drei, vier, …, acht, neun, etc.) are normally invariable — they don’t change form for case in standard usage.

So acht stays acht in nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive:

• Ich sehe acht Gäste.
• Ich spreche mit acht Gästen.
• Ich denke an acht Gäste.

The case is shown on the article/adjective/noun (here: anderen Gästen), not on the number acht.

How do the genders work here? Why “der Jugendherberge” but “im Schlafsaal”?

The genders are:

• die Jugendherberge (feminine)
• der Schlafsaal (masculine)
• der Gast, plural die Gäste (masculine)

Now apply dative:

• Feminine dative singular: der

  • in der Jugendherberge (in + dative, location)

• Masculine dative singular: dem

  • in dem Schlafsaal → im Schlafsaal

• Masculine plural dative: den

  • -n on the noun
  • mit den Gästen (or here: mit acht anderen Gästen)

The gender itself (feminine/masculine) is lexical and must be memorized with each noun. The forms der / dem / den follow from that.

Is there any difference between “In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich …” and “Ich schlafe in der Jugendherberge …”?

Grammatically, both are correct and mean the same thing:

• Ich schlafe in der Jugendherberge im Schlafsaal mit acht anderen Gästen.
• In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich im Schlafsaal mit acht anderen Gästen.

The difference is emphasis and style:

• Starting with Ich is the neutral/default order.
• Starting with In der Jugendherberge puts more focus on the place (maybe contrasting it with another place).

But the basic meaning is unchanged.

Could I drop “ich” and say “In der Jugendherberge schlafe im Schlafsaal …”?

No. In standard German you cannot normally drop the subject pronoun like in Spanish or Italian.

You must say:

• In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich im Schlafsaal …

German requires an explicit subject (ich, du, er, sie, wir, ihr, sie/Sie) in ordinary sentences.

Why is “Jugendherberge”, “Schlafsaal”, and “Gästen” capitalized?

Because in German all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence.

So:

• die Jugendherberge → Jugendherberge capitalized
• der Schlafsaal → Schlafsaal capitalized
• die Gäste / den Gästen → Gäste/Gästen capitalized

Verbs, adjectives, and most other words are lowercase unless they start the sentence or are turned into nouns (nominalized).

What tense is “schlafe”, and can it also refer to the future?

schlafe is present tense, 1st person singular of schlafen:

• ich schlafe
• du schläfst
• er/sie/es schläft
• wir schlafen
• ihr schlaft
• sie schlafen

In German, the present tense is often used to talk about future plans, especially when the context is clear:

• Morgen schlafe ich in der Jugendherberge.
  = Tomorrow I’m sleeping / I will sleep in the youth hostel.

So depending on context, “In der Jugendherberge schlafe ich …” could be about now or about a planned future stay.