Learn Polish: Apteka jest obok szkoły. - The pharmacy is next to the school.

The basic dictionary form is szkoła. However, the preposition obok (next to) always requires the noun that follows it to take the Genitive case. For feminine nouns ending in -a, that usually means changing the ending to -y.

Does the preposition obok always trigger this ending change?

Yes! The word obok means "next to" or "beside" and it is always followed by the Genitive case. That is why it forms a pair with szkoły here.

Where are the words for "the" in this sentence?

Polish does not have definite articles (like "the") or indefinite articles (like "a" or "an"). The word apteka can mean "pharmacy", "a pharmacy", or "the pharmacy". You just rely on context to know which one makes sense.

Can I change the word order and say Obok szkoły jest apteka?

You absolutely can! Polish word order is very flexible. Starting with obok szkoły just puts a little more emphasis on the location, similar to saying "Next to the school, there is a pharmacy" in English.