Wohin? - Where to?

Fragen und Antworten

Picking up where we left off—for directions within town—here are some more examples (below). But first, a quick comment about in vs zu. What is the difference between saying Ich gehe ins Kino or Ich gehe zum Kino? - Using ins Kino implies you are going inside (to see a movie), while zum Kino implies you are going to that location (to meet someone out front, etc.).

PLACES TO GO - 2 In der Stadt / In Town
This section is vocabulary for places in town. Both the basic word and the "to" phrase are given for each item. For example, die Bäckerei is the bakery, but if we want to say "to the bakery," it's zur Bäckerei (the short form of zu der Bäckerei). Some of the phrases below may have more than one way to say "to." We have listed the most common way. Note the following contractions: ins = in das, zum = zu dem, zur = zu der
Englisch	Deutsch
bakery - to the bakery	die Bäckerei - zur Bäckerei
bank - to the bank	die Bank - zur Bank
bar/pub - to the bar/pub	die Kneipe - in die Kneipe
butcher to the butcher	der Fleischer/der Metzger zum Fleischer/zum Metzger
hotel - to the hotel	das Hotel - zum Hotel
market/fleamarket to the market	der Markt/der Flohmarkt zum Markt/zum Flohmarkt
cinema - to the movies/cinema	das Kino - ins/zum Kino
the post office - to the post office	die Post - zur Post
restaurant - to the restaurant	das Restaurant - ins/zum Restaurant
to a/the Chinese restaurant	zum Chinesen
to an/the Italian restaurant	zum Italiener
to a/the Greek restaurant	zum Griechen
school - to school	die Schule - zur Schule
the shopping center to the shopping center	das Einkaufszentrum zum Einkaufszentrum
the traffic light/signal (up) to the signal	die Ampel bis zur Ampel
the train station - to the station	der Bahnhof - zum Bahnhof
work - to work	die Arbeit - zur Arbeit
the youth hostel to the youth hostel	die Jugendherberge in die Jugendherberge
ANDERSWO - ELSEWHERE
the lake - to the lake	der See - an den See
the sea - to the sea	die See/das Meer - ans Meer
the toilet/restroom to the toilet/restroom	die Toilette/das Klo/das WC zur Toilette/zum Klo/zum WC

Here are some sample questions and answers related to asking and giving directions.

FRAGEN und ANTWORTEN Questions and Answers in German and English

In the sentences below, the TO-phrases are in bold type – both in German and English. There is some grammar here that we will ignore until a later lesson. For now, learn the patterns for the various articles (der/die/das) for each gender (masc./fem./neuter). NOTE: The sentences below are answers to the question in red (rot).

Wohin fahren Sie? / Wohin fährst du? Where are you going? (driving/traveling)

Ich fahre morgen an den See. I'm going to the lake tomorrow.

Ich fahre morgen nach Dresden. I'm going to Dresden tomorrow.

Wie komme ich... How do I get...

...zur Bank? - Gehen Sie zwei Straßen und dann rechts. ...to the bank? - Go two blocks (streets) and then right.

...zum Hotel? - Fahren Sie diese Straße entlang. ...to the hotel? - Drive down/along this street.

...zur Post? - Gehen Sie bis zur Ampel und dann links. ...to the post office? - Go up to the traffic light and then left.

NOTE: For the items above, if you are walking, you use gehen; if you are driving, you use fahren.

Extra-Ausdrücke Extra Expressions

an der Kirche vorbei past the church am Kino vorbei past the cinema

rechts/links an der Ampel right/left at the traffic light

am Marktplatz at the market square an der Ecke at the corner

die nächste Straße the next street über die Straße across/over the street über den Marktplatz across the market square

vor dem Bahnhof in front of the train station vor der Kirche in front of the church

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.

Directions: How do I get there?

Wie komme ich dorthin?

Wann? • Adverbs of Time

In this lesson you'll learn vocabulary and grammar related to going places, asking for simple directions and receiving directions. You'll learn words and phrases that will let you talk about going places, as well as understand what someone else says when giving simple directions.

One word of caution before we begin. Asking for directions is easy. Understanding the torrent of German you may get back is another story! Most German textbooks/courses teach you how to ask the questions, but fail to deal adequately with the understanding aspect. That's why we will also teach you some coping skills in this lesson to help in such situations. One example is to ask your question in such a way that it will elicit a simple ja or nein, or a simple "left," "straight ahead" or "right" answer. And don't forget those ever reliable hand signals that work in any language!

WO vs. WOHIN
German has two question words for asking "where." One (wo?) is for asking the location of someone or something. The other (wohin?) is for asking about motion or direction ("where to").

For instance, in English you would use "where" to ask both "Where are the keys?" (location) and "Where are you going?" (motion/direction). In German these two questions require two different forms of "where":

Wo sind die Schlüssel? ("Where are the keys?")

Wohin gehen Sie? ("Where are you going?")

In English this can be compared to the difference between the location question "where's it at?" (poor English, but it gets the idea across) and the direction question "where to?" But in German you can only use wo? for "where's it at?" (location) and wohin? for "where to?" (direction). Sometimes wohin gets split in two, as in: "Wo gehen Sie hin?" But you can't use wo without hin to ask about motion or direction in German. - You must always use the correct form of "where" for location (wo?) or motion/direction (wohin?).

Now let's look at some common words and expressions related to directions and places we might go to. You need to memorize this vocabulary.

DIRECTIONS - RICHTUNGEN
Notice that in some of the phrases below, the gender (der/die/das) may affect the article, as in "in die Kirche" or "an den See". Notice that der sometimes changes to den, and so on. You'll learn more about the grammar for this in a future lesson. For now, just notice what's going on related to gender!
Englisch	Deutsch
along/down Go along/down this street.	entlang Gehen Sie diese Straße entlang!
back Go back.	zurück Gehen Sie zurück!
in the direction of/towards... the train station the church the hotel	in Richtung auf... den Bahnhof die Kirche das Hotel
left - to the left	links - nach links
right - to the right	rechts - nach rechts
straight ahead Keep going straight ahead.	geradeaus (guh-RAH-duh-ouse) Gehen Sie immer geradeaus!
up to, until up to the traffic light up to the cinema	bis zum (masc./neut.) bis zur (fem.) bis zur Ampel bis zum Kino
COMPASS DIRECTIONS HIMMELSRICHTUNGEN
north - to the north north of (Leipzig)	der Nord(en) - nach Norden nördlich von (Leipzig)
south - to the south south of (Munich)	der Süd(en) - nach Süden südlich von (München)
east - to the east east of (Frankfurt)	der Ost(en) - nach Osten östlich von (Frankfurt)
west - to the west west of (Cologne)	der West(en) - nach Westen westlich von (Köln)
Note: More compass directions can be formed in German just as in English by combining more than one element. Northwest - Nordwesten, Northeast - Nordosten, Southwest - Südwesten, etc.