Why do you say: “Ich fahre nach München” but “Ich fahre zur Arbeit”?
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How would you say:
I drive to Munich.
Right:
Ich fahre nach München.
And, how would you say:
I drive to work.
There you go:
Ich fahre zur Arbeit.
Why do we use sometimes nach and sometimes zu for the English word to?
Nach is used more for countries and cities:
Ich fahre nach Deutschland. (I drive to Germany.)
Ich fliege nach Madrid. (I fly to Madrid.)
Ich fahre nach Berlin. (I drive to Berlin.)
One special case is also nach Hause. So if you go home you’ll say:
Ich gehe nach Hause. (I go home.)
Ich fahre nach Hause. (I drive home.)
Wheres zu is more used for locations:
Ich fahre zur Schule. (I drive to school.)
Ich fahre zum Kino. (I drive to the cinema.)
Ich fahre zur Arbeit. (I drive to work.)
Ich gehe zum Park. (I drive to the park.)
Notice that I use zum for masculine and neuter nouns:
Ich fahre zum Kino. (das Kino)
Ich fahre zum Park. (der Park)
And we’ll use zur for feminine nouns
Ich fahre zur Arbeit. (die Arbeit)
Ich fahre zur Schule. (die Schule)
Keep in mind: zur is actually a contraction of zu + der = zur, and zum of zu + dem = zum.
And zu is a pure dative preposition so you’ll use the dative articles. For feminine zu + der = zur and for masculine and neuter zu + dem = zum.
Any questions or struggle with this weird German language?
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