Why do you say: “ich gehe in die Schweiz” but “ich gehe nach Deutschland”
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How would you say:
I go to Germany.
Right:
Ich gehe nach Deutschland.
And, how would you say:
I go to Switzerland.
There you go:
Ich gehe in die Schweiz.
Why do we use sometimes nach and sometimes in for the same preposition to?
There are some few countries that have an article, like:
- die Schweiz (Switzerland)
- die Türkei (Turkey)
- die USA (USA)
- der Irak (Iraq)
In these cases we’ll use in:
Ich fahre in die Schweiz. (I drive to Switzerland.)
Ich gehe in die Türkei. (I go to Turkey.)
Ich fliege in die USA. (I fly to USA.)
Ich fliege in den Irak. (I fly to Iraq.)
Most countries don’t have articles, like:
- Deutschland
- Spanien
- England
- Italien
The same as for cities, like:
- Berlin
- München
- London
- Madrid
In these cases we’ll use nach:
Ich fahre nach Berlin. (I drive to Berlin.)
Ich gehe nach München. (I go to Munich.)
Ich fliege nach Australien. (I fly to Australia.)
Ich ziehe nach Deutschland um. (I move to Germany.)
One special case is also nach Hause:
Ich gehe nach Hause. (I go home.)
Ich fahre nach Hause. (I drive to home.)
So whenever you express a movement you’ll say “nach Hause”.
“zu Hause” on the other hand is used for at home.
Wo bist du? (Where are you?)
Ich bin zu Hause. (I’m at home.)
Wo ist dein Freund? (Where is your friend?)
Er ist zu Hause. (He’s at home.)
Mein Vater ist zu Hause. (My father is at home.)
Wir treffen uns zu Hause. (We meet at home.)
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