Корма находится за багажным отделением.

Here корма means the stern or the rear/tail section of a vehicle or vessel.

In this sentence, it is singular, not plural. That can confuse learners because the ending -а can look familiar from some plural forms in Russian, but here корма is a singular noun.

So grammatically, корма is the subject of the sentence.

Находится means is located, is situated, or simply is in the sense of location.

So:

• Корма находится за багажным отделением = The stern/rear section is located behind the baggage compartment.

Russian often uses находиться in formal or neutral descriptions of where something is. It sounds a bit more explicit than just naming the location.

Because за changes case depending on meaning.

When за means behind in a static location sense, it takes the instrumental case.

That is exactly what is happening here:

• за багажным отделением = behind the baggage compartment

If there were movement to a position behind something, Russian would normally use за + accusative instead.

It is the instrumental singular.

Both words change because they form one noun phrase:

• багажным = instrumental singular of багажный
• отделением = instrumental singular of отделение

This is required because the preposition за here governs the instrumental when expressing location.

In Russian, adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

So if отделение changes to instrumental singular, the adjective modifying it must also become instrumental singular.

That is why:

• dictionary form: багажное отделение
• in this sentence: за багажным отделением

The preposition за has several meanings, but context tells you which one is intended.

In a sentence about physical location, за + instrumental usually means behind or at the back of:

• за домом = behind the house
• за дверью = behind the door
• за багажным отделением = behind the baggage compartment

So here it is clearly spatial.

Yes. This is very important.

With за, the two most common patterns are:

• за + instrumental = location, behind
• за + accusative = motion, to behind / to a position behind

Compare:

• Корма находится за багажным отделением.
  The rear section is behind the baggage compartment.

• Он зашёл за багажное отделение.
  He went behind the baggage compartment.

So the case helps show whether we are talking about location or movement.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible.

You could also say:

• За багажным отделением находится корма.

This still means the same thing. The difference is mainly in emphasis.

• Корма находится за багажным отделением focuses first on корма
• За багажным отделением находится корма starts with the location

Both are grammatically correct.

Sometimes yes, but it depends on style.

Russian often omits is/are in the present tense, especially in simple equational sentences. But with location, находится is common and often sounds clearer or more natural in formal description.

So:

• Корма находится за багажным отделением = full, clear, neutral/formal
• Корма за багажным отделением = possible in some contexts, but more like a label, note, or very compressed style

For a standard full sentence, находится is a good choice.

Because Russian has no articles.

English says:

• the stern
• the baggage compartment

Russian simply says:

• корма
• багажное отделение / багажным отделением

Whether something means a or the is understood from context.

The dictionary form is:

• багажное отделение

That is nominative singular.

In the sentence, it changes to:

• багажным отделением

because it is after за in a location meaning, so it must be instrumental singular.

It sounds neutral to slightly formal/descriptive.

The verb находится is very common in descriptions, instructions, technical writing, and factual statements. In casual conversation, a speaker might sometimes choose a simpler phrasing, but this sentence is perfectly normal Russian.

It sounds especially natural in contexts like:

• a vehicle or aircraft description
• technical documentation
• directions inside a ship, plane, or other structure