This week, we will conclude our five-part series on how to express movement from one place to another in German — in other words, translations of the preposition "to." We have looked at instances in which nach, in, an, and auf are used for this purpose, and now it's time for the preposition zu.
There are a few things to know about the preposition zu. First of all, it is always followed by the dative, even when used to express movement! This means you will often see zum, which is a combination of zu + dem for when a masculine or neuter object follows, and zur, which combines zu + der for a female object (again, it is always dative).
Kuckt mal, jetzt gehen wir mal zur Mauer und kucken uns die mal an.
Look, now let's go to the Wall and take a look at it.
Caption 7, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Bürger Lars Dietrich erinnert sich
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Am nächsten Tag geht er zur Schule.
The next day, he goes to school.
Caption 16, Sabine erzählt Witze - Ein Satz
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Und wer von der Politik genug gesehen hat,
And anyone who has seen enough of politics
kann einfach weiterflanieren,
can just continue strolling,
zum Beispiel zurück zum Potsdamer Platz.
for example, back to Potsdamer Platz.
Captions 38-39, Berlin - Hauptstadt des vereinten Deutschland
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Zu is the most widely used preposition to express "to" and it can often (but not always) substitute for in, an, and auf. We can say Ich gehe ins Fitnessstudio, but also Ich gehe zum Fitnessstudio. Both Ich gehe auf den Markt and Ich gehe zum Markt are correct. However, sometimes only zu is correct and sometimes it can't be used at all. Ich fahre ins Restaurant doesn't sound right because you aren't literally going to drive your car into the restaurant. With the verb fahren it's better to use zum Restaurant.
There is an instance in which zu is used exclusively and you have likely already come across it. You may know that zu Hause sein means "to be at home" and nach Hause gehen is "to go home." But when we talk about visiting someone at their home, we always use zu and it is actually very simple.
Ich gehe um elf zu Lisa.
I'm going to Lisa's at eleven.
Caption 16, Nicos Weg - A2 Folge 5: Geld ist für mich…
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Aber jetzt gehen wir erst mal zu deiner Tante.
But first let's go to your aunt's now.
Caption 22, Nicos Weg - A1 Folge 23: Ich habe kein…
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Further Learning
Re-read the other parts of this series of lessons linked in the first paragraph. You can keep a running list of how you see the preposition "to" translated on Yabla German, or make a list of places and try to say "I'm going to ____" for each one in German. Here are some sentences you can translate to get started: "I'm going to the park," "I'm going to the restaurant," "I'm driving to the beach," "I'm taking the train to Munich," "I'm going to Ana's house," "I'm getting into the car," "I'm going to the market," "I'm going home." Consider: which of these can also be said in German using zu?
The German electronic band Kraftwerk ("power plant") had a US radio hit back in the 1970s with their song "Autobahn," and as kids we used to like to sing along to it. I suspect, however, that we weren't the only ones who superimposed sound-alike English lyrics onto the German. Instead of the correct text Fahren, fahren, fahren auf der Autobahn, we sang "fun, fun, fun on the autobahn." At least we got the Autobahn part right!
Although the verb fahren is the root word of many other German verbs, verbs based on fahren can have a significantly different meaning than "to drive." One such word is the verb verfahren, which itself has several distinct meanings:
Lange klingeln lassen und dann wie gehabt verfahren.
Let it ring for longer and then proceed as usual.
Fast hätte ich mich noch verfahren.
Then I would've almost lost my way.
Following up with various translations of the verb erfahren:
Das mussten wir wieder mit Schrecken erfahren.
We were forced once again to experience this with horror.
Caption 57, Angela Merkel - Neujahrsansprache
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Wir haben nichts gefilmt. -Niemand wird davon erfahren.
We didn't film anything. -Nobody will find out about it.
Caption 30, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche
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Ich hab' das erst mal durch die „Aktuelle Kamera“ erfahren.
I learned about it for the first time through "Aktuelle Kamera.”
Caption 23, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Bürger Lars Dietrich erinnert sich
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And then there is the verb anfahren, which can mean "to start driving" or "to approach," but also has another meaning:
In Kopenhagen ist es wahrscheinlicher,
In Copenhagen, you are more likely
von einem Fahrrad angefahren zu werden, als von einem Auto.
to get run over by a bicycle than by a car.
Captions 5-6, TEDx - Der Supermarkt der Zukunft
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Further Learning
A search on the crowd-sourced German-English dictionary dict.cc yields over a thousand words of all grammatical types that include fahren in some way. Find some new words in that list and look up the various meanings they have on Duden, then go to Yabla German to find examples of the words used in videos. You can also look at this Dartmouth University article on German word formation and how prefixes significantly alter the meaning of the root word upon which they are based.
When something is funny in the sense of humorous and you can laugh about it, the usual adjective in German is lustig, which is nearly always translated as “funny.”
Ja, das ist ganz lustig.
Yes, that is pretty funny.
Caption 27, Wissenschaft - Neues Element: das Copernicium
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The English “making fun” of something or somebody, meaning to mock them, has a direct parallel in German that also uses the word lustig, as in sich lustig machen:
Sie lachten über seine großen Füße
They laughed about his big feet
und machten sich über seinen plumpen, grauen Körper lustig.
and made fun of his plump, gray body.
Captions 36-37, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Das hässliche Entlein
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Beware, however, as there is a partial false friend to be found in the German adjective (and adverb) komisch. This is occasionally used for the similar English word “comic” or “comical,” as in the Komische Oper (or “Comic Opera”) in Berlin, but usually it is meant in a more derogatory sense:
Die entstehen immer komischer.
They form more and more oddly.
Caption 57, Wissenschaft - Neues Element: das Copernicium
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Es war schon ein bisschen komisch.
It was indeed a little bit weird.
Caption 35, 25 Jahre Mauerfall - Bürger Lars Dietrich erinnert sich
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Of course, sometimes even English “funny” is also meant somewhat derogatorily rather than in a humorous sense:
Aber das ist ein komisches Beispiel.
But that is a funny example.
Caption 23, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Konjunktionen
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Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and find more examples of the adjectives lustig and komisch in a real world context to get a better feel for which is the appropriate word.
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