German Language Blog

In my last post I began to tell about the three possible German translations of English “to go (to)”. Remember that “to go” can be translated as fahren (to drive), fliegen (to fly), and, of course, as gehen (to go).

You have to use these three verbs with the German preposition “zu” when you want to say that you go or travel to a particular person, that is, you have to name this concrete person. How you name this concrete person is up to you. You can call the person by his or her name or simply say how are you related to this person (mother, sister, uncle, brother, friend, acquaintance).

Ich gehe heute Abend zu einem Freund. – I’m going to a friend tonight.

Ich fahre morgen zu meiner Oma. – I’m going (by car, train) to my grandma tomorrow.

Ich werde nächste Woche zu einer Freundin in den USA fliegen. – Next week, I will go (by plane) to a friend in the USA.

Using the three German verbs above with the preposition “zu” is not the only option you have in German. You can also use these verbs with the German preposition “nach”, but this is only possible when the object of your sentence is not a concrete person, but a point on a map, so to speak. In other words, you have to use the preposition “nach” (instead of “zu”) when you say that you go or travel to another city, country, or continent.

Gehen = to go

In English you can say, for example, that you go to a particular city, country, or continent, meaning that you will travel to there:

I’m going to Paris/Spain/Asia.

A German translation word by word would result in this sentence:

Ich gehe nach Paris/Spanien/Asien.

BUT: This does not mean the same as in English! German “gehen nach” rather means that you will move there or, at least, intend to stay there for a while. Mind the following possible dialog between two high school graduates.

A: Weißt du schon du zum Studium hin willst? Nach Berlin? Nach Hamburg? Oder nach München? (Do you already know where you want to go to for your studies? To Berlin? To Hamburg? Or to Munich?

B: Ich weiß es noch nicht genau. Aber ich denke, ich werde nach München gehen. (I don’t know for sure, yet. But I think I will go to Munich.)

Fahren = “to drive”

You use the German verb “fahren” + preposition “nach” when you want to say that you travel to another city or country by car, train, or bus.

Ich muss nächste Woche geschäftlich nach Düsseldorf fahren. – Next week I have to go to Dusseldorf on business.

Ich fahre noch heute Abend nach Hause! – I will do go home tonight!

As you can see, others won’t know how you get to a particular city or country. Usually, it is not necessary to emphasize that. Nevertheless, you can, of course, add this piece of information to your sentence:

Ich fahre mit dem Zug nach Düsseldorf. – I go to Dusseldorf by train.

Ich fahre mit dem Auto nach Hause. – I go home by car.

Fliege = to fly

When people are on vacation they often travel long distances, and some destinations cannot be reached by car or train. Instead, people have to go there by plane. In this case, we use the verb fliegen in German:

Diesen Sommer fliegen wir nach Gran Canaria. – This summer we will go/fly to Gand Canary.

Letztes Jahr sind wir nach Amerika geflogen. – Last year we went/flew to America.

Here´s the solution to the exercise that I posted some days ago. Compare it to your solution:

1. Der fünzehnte Dritte (der 15.3.) ist ein Donnerstag.

2. Nach dem siebten Paragraph (der 7. Paragraph) des Grundgesetzes ist das verboten.

3. Vom neunten bis neunzehnten Zweiten (09. – 19.2.) findet in Berlin die Berlinale statt.

4. Am Abend des zweiundzwanzigsten Dritten (der 22.3.) wurden mehrere Verdächtige im Stadtzentrum gesehen.

5. Der See spiegelte sich in den ersten Sonnenstrahlen (die ersten Sonnenstrahlen).

6. Die Krallen des zweiten Geparden (der 2. Gepard) machten dem Kampf ein Ende.

7. An jedem ersten Montag (jeder 1. Montag) im Monat trifft sich der Stammtisch im “Alten Löwen”.

8. Das neunte Kapitel (das 9.Kapitel) ist total unwichtig.

9. Die Informationen zur Orthographiereform finden Sie in den ersten zwei Heften (die 1. zwei Hefte) unserer Zeitschrift.

10. Vom ersten bis zum letzten Mann (der 1. – der letzte Mann) waren alle anwesend.

11. König Heinrich der Erste (Heinrich I.) hat dieses wunderschöne Schloss im Jahre 1369 erbauen lassen.

12. Aufgrund seines dritten Artikels (sein 3. Artikel) in der “Frankfurter Allgemeinen” wurde er entlassen.

13. Nach dem zweiten Glas (das 2. Glas) war er schon betrunken.

14. Nach einer Meinungsumfrage fällt es jedem fünften Student  (jeder 5. Student) schwer, sich mehr als sechs Stunden am Tag zu konzentrieren.

15. Diese Straße befindet sich im zwölften Stadtbezirk (12. Stadtbezirk)

The English verb phrase “to go to” is a real all-rounder when it comes to tell someone that you are going to a particular destination. You can say that you are going to a friend, to a another city or foreign country, but your interlocutor still does not know how you will get and whether you intend to ever come back or not. This is different in German, that is, you cannot simply translate English “to go to” into German “gehen zu/nach” – which exists indeed – and use it in every situation because in German there are several ways to express English “to go to”. Which one should be used is first of all dependent on how you move along and, secondly, how precise your destination is.

“to go” = gehen, fahren, fliegen

The English verb “to go” has, at least, three common German translations: gehen (to go; to walk), fahren (to drive), and fliegen (to fly). In German, we usually make clear HOW we get to our destination. In other words, we let others know whether we walk, go by car, bike or any public transportation, or by plane.

“zu” or “nach”

All three German verbs: gehen, fahren, and fliegen can be used with both German prepositions “zu” and “nach”. Which one you have to use is dependent on the object. You can only use the German preposition “zu” when you talk about a concrete person, and “nach” when you go to another city, country or continent. I will discuss this in detail below.

Gehen = to go

When we want to say, in German, that we go/walk to a particular destination, for example, to a friend (or any other concrete person), we use the German verb “gehen” (go) and the German preposition “zu” (to).

Ich geh(e) zu Michael. – I’m going to Michael(‘s place).

Ich geh(e) zu Oma and Opa. – I’m going to grandma(‘s) and grandpa(‘s place).

Ich geh(e) morgen zu Claudia. – I’m going to Claudia(‘s place) tomorrow.

Note: I put the “e” of first person singular “gehe” into brackets because you can omit this sound or letter in speech and writing, respectively, and still be grammatically correct.

When you use the German verb “gehen” with the preposition “zu” and a concrete person it always suggests that this person lives near you, so, a longer traveling is not necessary in order to get there.

Fahren = to drive

When you go by bike, car, or any kind of public transportation to get to a concrete person you usually use the German verb “fahren”.

Ich fahre jetzt (mit dem Fahrrad) zu einer Freundin. – I’m going (by bike) to a (female) friend(‘s place) now.

Ich fahre jeden Tag (mit dem Bus) zu meiner Oma. – I go (by bus) to my grandma(‘s place) every day.

Nächste Woche fahre ich (mit dem Zug) zu Stefanie. – I will go (by train) to Stefanie(‘s place) next week.

Note: Since the verb “fahren” does not provide any kind of information by which vehicle you get to someone, you can additionally add this information to your sentence. It also does not matter whether a person lives in the same city as you or if going there would take several hours. It is the form of locomotion that is emphasized. When a person lives in the same city as you, you can also use the verb “gehen” (see above) but when your ‘going-there’ implicates a longer journey (e.g. going by train) it is always better to talk of “fahren”.

Fliegen = to fly

When you have to go by plane in order to get to someone you usually have to use the verb “fliegen” in German.

Ich fliege morgen zu David und Susanne. Ich lebe in Berlin, und sie wohnen in München. – I will go (by plane) to David and Susanne tomorrow. I live in Berlin, and they live in Munich.

Ich fliege nächste Woche zu meiner Brieffreundin in Deutschland. – I will go (by plane) to my pen pal in Germany next week.

So, when you know that you will go by plane it is common to use the German verb “fliegen”. The verbs “gehen” and “fahren” would be rather misleading here.

To be continued…