Wir müssen vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen.

Because this is a normal German main clause with a modal verb.

• Wir = subject
• müssen = finite verb, so it goes in position 2
• anstehen = main verb in the infinitive, so it goes to the end

This is a very common pattern in German:

• Wir müssen warten.
• Ich kann kommen.
• Sie will gehen.

So Wir müssen vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen follows the standard rule: the conjugated modal verb comes early, and the other verb goes at the end.

Anstehen is a verb that means to queue, to stand in line, or to line up.

It is very commonly used in everyday German for waiting in a line, for example:

• Wir stehen an.
• Die Leute stehen vor dem Eingang an.

It is often used where English speakers might say wait in line rather than just stand.

Yes. Anstehen is a separable verb.

That means:

• in the infinitive, it stays together: anstehen
• when conjugated on its own in a main clause, it splits:
  • Wir stehen an.
  • Sie steht schon lange an.

But after a modal verb, it does not split, because it stays in the infinitive at the end:

• Wir müssen anstehen.
• Ihr müsst draußen anstehen.

This is a very common pattern with separable verbs after modals.

Because vor is a two-way preposition. That means it can take either:

• dative for a location
• accusative for a direction or movement toward somewhere

Here, the sentence describes where we have to stand in line, not movement toward a destination. So German uses the dative:

• vor der Einlasskontrolle

Compare:

• Wir warten vor der Tür. = location
• Wir gehen vor die Tür. = movement to a new position

So in this sentence, der is dative because it describes the place where the queue forms.

Here it most naturally means in front of in a physical sense.

So vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen suggests standing in a line at / in front of the admission check.

German vor can also mean before in time, but that is not the best interpretation here. In this sentence, the context points to a physical location.

Einlasskontrolle is a compound noun:

• Einlass = admission, entry
• Kontrolle = control, check, inspection

So together, Einlasskontrolle means something like:

• admission check
• entry check
• security check at the entrance

German forms compounds very freely, and the last part usually tells you the basic category of the word. Here the last part is Kontrolle, so the whole word is a kind of check/control.

Because it is a noun, and in German all nouns are capitalized.

That includes simple nouns and compound nouns:

• Haus
• Tür
• Einlass
• Einlasskontrolle

This is one of the most noticeable spelling differences between German and English.

Yes, often you can.

• anstehen = to queue / stand in line
• Schlange stehen = literally to stand snake, meaning to stand in a queue

For example:

• Wir müssen vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen.
• Wir müssen vor der Einlasskontrolle Schlange stehen.

Both are natural. Anstehen is shorter and very common. Schlange stehen is also very common and may feel a bit more explicit to learners because it clearly refers to a queue.

In German, nouns usually need an article unless there is some other determiner or the noun is being used in a special article-less way.

Here, the noun is part of a prepositional phrase:

• vor der Einlasskontrolle

The preposition vor requires a case-marked article here, and because Einlasskontrolle is feminine singular, the dative form is der.

So the article is doing grammatical work that English often does not show as clearly.

In a subordinate clause, the finite verb usually goes to the end. With a modal construction, both verbs move to the end, and the modal comes after the infinitive.

For example:

• ..., weil wir vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen müssen.

So compare:

• Main clause: Wir müssen vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen.
• Subordinate clause: ..., weil wir vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen müssen.

This verb placement is one of the big differences between German and English.

Yes. German is flexible, as long as the finite verb stays in the correct place in a main clause.

For example, you can also say:

• Vor der Einlasskontrolle müssen wir anstehen.

This puts more emphasis on where you have to queue.

Both are correct, but the original sentence is the most neutral:

• Wir müssen vor der Einlasskontrolle anstehen.

A good rule is:

• whatever comes first is often what the speaker wants to highlight
• the finite verb still stays in position 2