Hinter dem Busch steht eine dichte Hecke.

Behind the bush there is a dense hedge.

Breakdown of Hinter dem Busch steht eine dichte Hecke.

• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• stehen: to stand
• dicht: dense
• hinter: behind

Questions & Answers about Hinter dem Busch steht eine dichte Hecke.

Why is it dem Busch and not den Busch?

Because hinter is a two-way preposition in German. That means it can take either:

• dative for a location: where something is
• accusative for a direction/change of position: where something is going

In Hinter dem Busch steht eine dichte Hecke, the sentence describes a location, not movement. The hedge is already there, so German uses the dative:

• hinter dem Busch = behind the bush

If there were movement, you would use accusative:

• Die Katze läuft hinter den Busch. = The cat runs behind the bush.

Why does the sentence start with Hinter dem Busch?

German often puts the location or another important element first for emphasis or style. When that happens, the conjugated verb still has to stay in second position.

So the structure here is:

• Hinter dem Busch = first element
• steht = second position, as required
• eine dichte Hecke = subject comes after the verb

This is a very common German pattern. English usually keeps the subject first more often, but German is more flexible.

Compare:

• Eine dichte Hecke steht hinter dem Busch.
• Hinter dem Busch steht eine dichte Hecke.

Both are correct. The second version emphasizes the location a bit more.