More important verbs with examples.
Today we take a look at the verbs fahren(dir.), gehen(dir.), besuchen(acc.) and kommen(dir.)
The verbs „fahren“, „gehen“ and „kommen“ require a directive complement. The questions to ask for those complements are „Wohin?“ (where to) resp. „Woher?“ (where from).
The directive complement consists of a PREPOSITION and an (very often) accusative or (in the case of the Dative PREPOSITIONS von, nach, zu, aus, bei) dative complement.
Here some examples:
fahren (dir.)
1. Peter fährt in die Stadt(f). – Peter is driving into the city.
Explanation: The verb „fahren“ requires a directive complement, here it’s „in die Stadt“. „in“ is the PREPOSITION, „die Stadt“ is the accusative form of „die Stadt“
2. Peter fährt zum Bahnhof(m). – Peter drives to the station.
Explanation: The verb „fahren“ requires a directive complement:
Here the PREPOSITION is zu. zu always requires a dative complement, so it’s
zu dem Bahnhof; „zum“ is a short form of zu dem
3. Peter fährt nach Frankfurt(0). – Peter goes to Frankfurt.
Here the PREPOSITION „nach“ is used. Frankfurt is a city, so you use no article here (indicated by the 0 above)
4. Maria fährt nach Hause(Exp).
ATTENTION! „nach Hause“ is an expression!
ATTENTION! „fahren“ is a strong(irregular) verb:
ich fahre, du fährst, er/sie/es fährt, wir fahren, ihr fahrt, sie/Sie fahren
gehen (dir.)
5. Wir gehen heute in die Kirche. – We’ll go into the church today.
Explanation: Kirche is a feminine noun, the PREPOSITION is „in“ here, so it’s „in die Kirche“
6. Peter und Maria gehen in die Stadt. – Peter and Maria are going into the city.
Explanation: „Stadt“ is a feminine noun, the accusative of the feminine article „die“ is also „die“, in is the preposition, so it’s „in die Stadt“
7. Ich gehe nach Hause(Exp.) – I’m going home.
Gehst du heute Nachmittag in den Park? – Are you gonna go to the park today in the afternoon?
Explanation: „Park“ has a masculine gender, the accusative case of the masculine article „der“ is „den“, the preposition is „in“, so it’s „in den Park“
Attention! „nach Hause“ is an expression, not a noun, the noun is „Haus“, not „Hause“!
besuchen (acc.)
9. Am Wochenende besuche ich meinen Onkel. – On the weekend I’m gonna visit my uncle.
Explanation: „Onkel“ has a masculine gender, the accusative of the possessive pronoun „mein“ is „meinen“, so it’s „meinen Onkel“
kommen (dir.)
10. Ich komme morgen nicht zu dir. – I won’t come to you (your home) tomorrow.
Explanation: „zu“ is the preposition here. It requires always a dative complement, the dative of „du“ is „dir“, so it’s „zu dir“
11. Kommst du aufs Konzert? – Are you gonna come to the concert?
Explanation:
„Konzert“ has a neuter gender, the accusative of the neuter article „das“ is „das“, „auf“ is the preposition, „aufs“ is a short form of „auf das“, so it’s „aufs Konzert“.
TASK: Now ask the right questions (Woher? OR Wohin?) for the examples above and send your answers to me. Rember that „Wohin“ means „Where … to?“ and „Woher“ „Where … from?“! The one with the most right answers gets one German skype lesson for free!