Wednesday 1 April 2009

Should I use fahren?

If you want to say I am going to, then it is fairly easy in English. In German the word for 'go' changes depending on whether you are going by car or by foot. If you are not going too far then you can zu Fuß gehen, but once you use an engine then to go becomes fahren. I am going to Manchester may become ich gehe nach Manchester, but if you get in the habit of saying ich gehe zu Fuß nach Manchester then you should get it right. Unless you live near the centre of Manchester the sentence should be ich fahre nach Manchester. If it helps you remember then say ich fahre mit dem Auto nach Manchester. You could also fahre mit dem Fahrrad, mit dem Bus, mit dem Zug oder mit dem Flugzeug.

I have mentioned compound words recently. If you know fahren then you may be able to guess that abfahren is to depart. Ausfahren has a few meanings but do look out for die Ausfahrt otherwise you may miss your exit. Similarly you may want die Einfahrt if you want the entrance or the slip road.

Bis bald

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