Places to Go

Wann? • Adverbs of time

In English we can say we're going to the bank, to Boston, or to Switzerland, but in German there is more than one way to say "to"—and each one of these "to" phrases would use a different German preposition! However, there are some rules and guidelines you can learn for these situations.

Most geographic place names (countries, states, cities, etc.) use nach for "to." Only a few countries that are feminine, masculine or plural (rather than the normal neuter das) use in for "to." Notice the exceptions listed below.

When going to a location in town, such as to the bakery or a restaurant, the most common prepositions for "to" are in and zu (usually in a compound such as zum or zur).

For now, observe the examples in the chart below.

PLACES TO GO - 1 Town & Country
Englisch	Deutsch
IN DER STADT - IN TOWN
to the bakery	zur Bäckerei
to the restaurant	ins Restaurant
to the supermarket	zum Supermarkt
from (the bank) to (the hotel) from (the hotel) to (the bank)	von (der Bank) bis (zum Hotel) von (dem Hotel) bis (zur Bank)
LÄNDER/STÄDTE - COUNTRIES/CITIES
from (Frankfurt) to (Berlin)	von (Frankfurt) nach (Berlin)
to... (countries/cities) Germany France Australia Munich Berlin	nach... (Nationen/Städte) Deutschland Frankreich Australien München Berlin
to Switzerland	in die Schweiz
to the US	in die USA
to Iran (Iran and Irak can be der or das)	in den Iran (der) / nach Iran (das)

Now here are some adverbs that tell us when we're going someplace—along with sample sentences.

WANN? - WHEN?
GRAMMATIK: Notice that in German, TIME comes before PLACE! In English, it's the other way around. See the sample sentences below.
Englisch	Deutsch
yesterday - today - tomorrow We're going to the cinema tomorrow.	gestern - heute - morgen Wir gehen morgen ins Kino.
(the) day before yesterday (the) day after tomorrow We're driving to Vienna (the) day after tomorrow.	vorgestern übermorgen Wir fahren übermorgen nach Wien.
this morning/afternoon He's traveling to Hamburg this morning.	heute Morgen/Nachmittag Er fährt heute Morgen nach Hamburg.
now - later I'm going to work later.	jetzt - später Ich gehe später zur Arbeit.
at eight o'clock I'm going to the station at eight.	um acht Uhr Ich gehe um acht zum Bahnhof.