Learn Hardcore German: Ich arbeite heute im Büro; im Gegensatz dazu lernt meine Schwester im Garten. - I am working at the office today; in contrast, my sister is studying in the garden.

Ich arbeite heute im Büro. → Where do I work? → Wo? → dative (dem Büro → im Büro)
… lernt meine Schwester im Garten. → Where does she study? → Wo? → dative (dem Garten → im Garten)

If you expressed movement into those places, you would use the accusative:

Ich gehe heute ins Büro. (in das Büro) – I’m going to the office (into it).
Sie läuft in den Garten. – She runs into the garden.

Could I say Ich arbeite heute ins Büro?

No, that would be wrong in standard German.

ins = in das and signals motion (accusative), but arbeiten here describes an activity at a place, not movement to a place.

Correct options:

Ich arbeite heute im Büro. – I am working in/at the office today.
Ich gehe heute ins Büro. – I’m going to the office today.

So:

Location of the activity → im Büro (dative)
Movement towards the place → ins Büro (accusative) with a verb of motion like gehen, fahren, laufen, etc.

Why is the verb lernt in the second position after im Gegensatz dazu?

German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the conjugated verb must be in the second slot of the clause.

In the second clause:

im Gegensatz dazu = one complete element (an adverbial phrase)
lernt = finite verb
meine Schwester = subject
im Garten = place adverbial

So the structure is:

im Gegensatz dazu (1st position)
lernt (2nd position — required by V2)
meine Schwester im Garten (rest of the clause)

You could also start with the subject:

Meine Schwester lernt im Gegensatz dazu im Garten.

Here:

Meine Schwester (1st position)
lernt (2nd position)
im Gegensatz dazu im Garten (rest)

Can I move heute to a different position, for example: Heute arbeite ich im Büro?

Yes. German word order is flexible for adverbials like heute, as long as the verb stays in second position:

All of these are correct, with slightly different emphasis:

Ich arbeite heute im Büro. (neutral, common)
Heute arbeite ich im Büro. (stronger emphasis on today as contrast to other days)

Less typical, but still possible in the right context:

Ich arbeite im Büro heute. (emphasis on im Büro; heute gets end-stress)

A helpful guideline is the TE-KA-MO-LO order (Time – Cause – Manner – Location).
So heute (time) before im Büro (location) is the “canonical” order: heute im Büro.

Can im Gegensatz dazu appear in other positions in the second clause?

Yes, you can move im Gegensatz dazu, though the nuance changes slightly.

Possible variants:

Im Gegensatz dazu lernt meine Schwester im Garten.
– Contrast phrase in first position; very clear contrastive link to the previous clause.
Meine Schwester lernt im Gegensatz dazu im Garten.
– Subject first, still clear contrast; slightly more neutral flow.
Meine Schwester lernt im Garten, im Gegensatz dazu.
– Grammatically possible, but stylistically odd; sounds a bit “dangling” and is not usual.

Natural choices are (1) and (2). In all cases, the finite verb lernt must remain in the second position of the clause or sentence.

What is the function of im Gegensatz dazu? Is it basically the same as aber?

im Gegensatz dazu introduces a contrast to the previous statement, similar in meaning to however, by contrast, or in contrast to that.

Ich arbeite heute im Büro; im Gegensatz dazu lernt meine Schwester im Garten.
→ I’m working in the office today; by contrast, my sister is studying in the garden.

Compared to aber (but):

aber is a conjunction that directly joins clauses:
- Ich arbeite heute im Büro, aber meine Schwester lernt im Garten.
im Gegensatz dazu is an adverbial phrase, more formal and explicit about contrast, and it normally starts a new main clause.

So they both introduce contrast, but im Gegensatz dazu is more explicit and a bit more formal than aber.

Can I drop dazu and just write im Gegensatz?

Not in this sentence. The idiomatic expression here is im Gegensatz dazu (in contrast to that).

im Gegensatz zu … is used with a noun phrase:
- Im Gegensatz zu meiner Schwester arbeite ich im Büro.
  (In contrast to my sister, I work in the office.)
im Gegensatz dazu is used with a whole clause:
- Ich arbeite heute im Büro; im Gegensatz dazu lernt meine Schwester im Garten.
  (…; in contrast, my sister is studying in the garden.)

Im Gegensatz lernt meine Schwester im Garten sounds incomplete and unidiomatic, because German expects either zu + noun or dazu after im Gegensatz.

Why is lernt used here and not studiert, if the meaning is “is studying”?

Both lernen and studieren can translate English to study, but they’re used differently:

lernen = to learn / to study (general studying, at school, for an exam, at home, etc.)
studieren = to study a subject at university or to be enrolled in higher education

Typical usage:

Sie lernt im Garten. – She is studying / doing homework / learning in the garden.
Sie studiert Medizin. – She is studying medicine (at university).

In the sentence, we don’t necessarily mean she is a university student; we just know she’s learning / studying something in the garden, so lernt is the natural verb.

How do you express the English continuous form (“I am working”, “she is studying”) in German? Why is simple present used?

German normally does not have a separate continuous/progressive tense like English. The simple present covers both:

Ich arbeite heute im Büro.
= I work in the office today / I am working in the office today.
Meine Schwester lernt im Garten.
= My sister studies in the garden / My sister is studying in the garden.

You can create special constructions (e.g. Ich bin am Arbeiten), but they are regional, colloquial, or sound unnatural in many contexts. For standard German, use the simple present and rely on context and time adverbs like heute to convey the meaning.

Why are Büro, Schwester, and Garten capitalized?

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

Büro – noun (office)
Schwester – noun (sister)
Garten – noun (garden)

This includes:

common nouns (Haus, Auto, Buch)
abstract nouns (Liebe, Hoffnung)
nominalized words (das Lesen, im Allgemeinen)

So capitalization here simply follows the general rule “nouns are written with a capital letter.”

Why is it meine Schwester and not meiner Schwester?

meine Schwester is in the nominative, because it is the subject of the second clause.

Second clause: im Gegensatz dazu lernt meine Schwester im Garten.

Who is doing the action? → meine Schwester → subject → nominative
Feminine singular nominative of meine → meine Schwester

meiner Schwester would be dative (or genitive, in other contexts), which is used for indirect objects or after certain prepositions. Here, meine Schwester is not an object at all; she is the one performing the action, so nominative is required.

Why is there a semicolon between the two clauses, and what alternatives are possible?

The semicolon separates two closely related main clauses that could each stand as a full sentence. In German, semicolons are used similarly to English: to show a strong connection without using a conjunction.

Original:

Ich arbeite heute im Büro; im Gegensatz dazu lernt meine Schwester im Garten.

Possible alternatives:

Two sentences:
- Ich arbeite heute im Büro. Im Gegensatz dazu lernt meine Schwester im Garten.
With aber:
- Ich arbeite heute im Büro, aber meine Schwester lernt im Garten.
With während (while/whereas):
- Ich arbeite heute im Büro, während meine Schwester im Garten lernt.

All are correct; the semicolon version slightly emphasizes the contrast by juxtaposing two parallel main clauses.