"A garázs a ház mellett van."

Translation: The garage is next to the house.

[aryabferduzi]

So why it isn't "A garázs a háznál van."?

[RyagonIV]

That would be "The garage is by the house." Mellett makes the two buildings neatly aligned, -nál makes it sound here that the garage is just somewhere in the house's vicinity.

[faltayje]

Aren't "beside" and "next to" the same?

[vvsey]

Pretty much, yes.

[Jonnytischbein]

Why isn't it " The house is next to the garage"? I thought words like mellett are combined by the word before. So "the house is by.." - ... a ház mellett van

[mizinamo]

mellett goes with the thing before in the way that preposition go with the thing after in English.

So a ház mellett is "by the house", and ... a ház mellett van is "... is by the house".

mellett is right after a ház, just as "by" is right in front of "the house".