Breakdown of Он стоял около выхода.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
выход
exit
около
near
стоять
to stand
Questions & Answers about Он стоял около выхода.
Why does the word for exit (выход) end in -а here?
The preposition около (meaning "near" or "around") always requires the following noun to be in the Genitive case. Since выход is a masculine noun ending in a hard consonant, its Genitive form is выхода.
Could I use рядом с instead of около to say "near" or "next to" in this sentence?
Yes, but the grammar would change. While около takes the Genitive case (около выхода), рядом с requires the Instrumental case (рядом с выходом). Another great alternative is возле, which is a synonym for около and also uses the Genitive case (возле выхода).
Why use the imperfective verb стоял for "was standing"?
Standing is a continuous physical position. In Russian, past states, body positions, or ongoing actions that describe a scene rather than a sudden completed result almost always use imperfective verbs like стоял.
I've seen около used with numbers before. Does it work differently there?
It is the exact same word and still takes the Genitive case, but the meaning shifts slightly. With amounts, numbers, or time, около means "approximately" or "around" (like около часа for "about an hour"). In this sentence, it simply refers to a literal physical location.