Die Lichtshow fängt nach dem Soundcheck an.

Because Lichtshow is a feminine noun in German, so it takes die in the nominative singular.

• die Lichtshow = the light show

Grammatical gender in German does not always match logic, so you usually have to learn each noun together with its article:

• die Show
• therefore also die Lichtshow

Because anfangen is a separable verb.

The full infinitive is:

• anfangen = to begin, to start

In a normal present-tense main clause, the verb splits:

• fängt goes to the usual verb position
• an goes to the end of the clause

So:

• Die Lichtshow fängt nach dem Soundcheck an.

Other examples:

• Der Film fängt um acht an.
• Wann fängt das Konzert an?

Because the conjugated verb comes from anfangen, and in the present tense the stem vowel changes:

• ich fange an
• du fängst an
• er/sie/es fängt an

So with die Lichtshow (which is grammatically sie, third person singular), you use:

• fängt ... an

This vowel change from a to ä is common in some strong verbs.

Because nach is a preposition that takes the dative case in this meaning.

So:

• der Soundcheck = nominative
• dem Soundcheck = dative

That is why you get:

• nach dem Soundcheck = after the soundcheck

Compare:

• nach dem Essen = after the meal
• nach der Probe = after the rehearsal

German prepositions often require a specific case, and this does not always match anything visible in English.

Here, the important rule is simply:

• nach + dative

So whenever nach means after or to in certain contexts, you normally use the dative:

• nach dem Konzert
• nach der Schule
• nach einem langen Tag

English does not mark that case, but German does.

Because in a German main clause, the conjugated part of the verb goes early in the sentence, while the separable prefix goes to the end.

Pattern:

• subject + conjugated verb + other information + separable prefix

So here:

• Die Lichtshow = subject
• fängt = conjugated verb
• nach dem Soundcheck = time phrase
• an = separable prefix

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in German.

Yes, absolutely. That is also correct.

German lets you move elements to the first position for emphasis or style. If you put Nach dem Soundcheck first, the conjugated verb still must stay in the second position:

• Nach dem Soundcheck fängt die Lichtshow an.

This is a standard German word-order rule often called the V2 rule:

• the finite verb comes second in main clauses

Yes. Show is a borrowed word that is fully used in German, and compounds with it are very common.

So Lichtshow is a normal German compound:

• Licht = light
• Show = show

German often combines words into one noun:

• Soundcheck
• Lichtshow
• Bühnentechnik

Because all nouns are capitalized in German.

So in this sentence:

• Die = article, not capitalized because it is the first word only
• Lichtshow = noun, capitalized
• Soundcheck = noun, capitalized

This is a very consistent rule in German and helps you spot nouns quickly.

Yes. In many contexts, anfangen can correspond to either begin or start in English.

For example:

• Die Show fängt an. = The show begins. / The show starts.
• Ich fange mit der Arbeit an. = I begin the work. / I start the work.

Which English translation sounds best depends on context, but the German is the same.

Yes. You could also say:

• Die Lichtshow beginnt nach dem Soundcheck.

Here, beginnen is not separable, so it does not split:

• beginnt stays together as one verb form

Both are correct, but anfangen is often a bit more conversational and common in everyday speech.

A learner might notice the ä. It is pronounced differently from plain a.

A rough guide:

• fängt sounds somewhat like fengt, but not exactly like English e
• the ä is a front vowel, closer to the vowel in some pronunciations of bed, though exact matching depends on accent

Also note:

• ng in fängt is pronounced like the ng in sing
• the final t is clearly pronounced

So the tricky part is mainly the vowel change from fange to fängt.

The structure is:

• Die Lichtshow = subject
• fängt ... an = verb
• nach dem Soundcheck = time expression

So the sentence follows a very common German pattern:

• subject + finite verb + time phrase + separable prefix

That makes it a useful model for many similar sentences, such as:

• Das Konzert fängt um neun an.
• Die Probe fängt nach der Pause an.