Travel & Transport: Grammar & Phonics (AQA GCSE German): Revision Note
Exam code: 8662
To talk about how you travel and where you are going, prepositions are essential
Two patterns come up again and again in the travel and transport topic - let's look at them in detail
Mit + dative
Use mit + the dative form of the article to say how you travel
After mit, the article always changes to the dative form: der and das become dem, and die becomes der
German | English |
|---|---|
Ich fahre mit dem Bus. | I travel by bus. |
Ich fahre mit dem Auto. | I travel by car. |
Ich fahre mit dem Zug. | I travel by train. |
Ich fahre mit dem Fahrrad. | I travel by bike. |
Ich fahre mit dem Schiff. | I travel by ship. |
Ich fliege mit dem Flugzeug. | I travel by plane. |
The one important exception is zu Fuß (on foot) - this uses no mit and no article:
German | English |
|---|---|
Ich gehe zu Fuß. | I go on / by foot. I walk. |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
A very common error is writing auf dem Bus instead of mit dem Bus
This comes from translating the English on the bus word for word
In German, the preposition is always mit for means of transport, never auf or in
Nach, in, zu
Nach, in and zu can all mean 'to' in English
German uses different prepositions depending on where you are going
The key questions to ask are: does this place have a definite article?
And are you talking about movement towards somewhere, or being somewhere?
nach - use with cities and countries that have no definite article in German (the majority):
German | English |
|---|---|
Ich fahre nach Berlin. | I am going to Berlin. |
Ich fahre nach Deutschland. | I am going to Germany. |
Wir reisen nach Spanien. | We are travelling to Spain. |
in + accusative - use when travelling into a place that has a definite article
The article changes to its accusative form: die stays die, der becomes den, das becomes das (or ins as a contraction):
German | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
Ich fahre in die Schweiz. | I am going to Switzerland. | die Schweiz feminine, has article |
Ich fahre in die Türkei. | I am going to Turkey / Türkiye. | die Türkei feminine, has article |
Wir fahren in die Stadt. | We are going into town. | die Stadt feminine |
Wir fahren in den Norden. | We are going to the north. | der Norden masculine → den |
Wir fahren ins Zentrum. | We are going to the centre. | das Zentrum neuter → ins |
Ich fahre ins Ausland. | I am going abroad. | das Ausland neuter → ins |
in + dative - use when describing being somewhere rather than travelling there
This is the movement vs location distinction:
Movement (accusative) | Location (dative) |
|---|---|
Ich fahre in die Stadt. I am going into town. | Ich bin in der Stadt. I am in town. |
Wir fahren ins Zentrum. We are going to the centre. | Wir sind im Zentrum. We are in the centre. |
zu - use when going to a person, or to specific named places such as buildings and institutions
zu always takes the dative: zu dem contracts to zum, and zu der contracts to zur:
German | English |
|---|---|
Ich gehe zur Schule. | I go to school. |
Ich fahre zum Bahnhof. | I am going to the station. |
Wir fahren zum Flughafen. | We are going to the airport. |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
The movement vs location distinction is a key grammar point that examiners notice
Use in + accusative when you are travelling somewhere: Ich fahre in die Stadt
Switch to in + dative when you are already there: Ich bin in der Stadt
Travel & Transport: phonics
The letter z is always pronounced like the ts sound in the English words cats — never like the English z in zoo
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