Dear anyone,
Your duolingo forum registration isn't automaticaly transferred to duome forum so in order to join duome forums you need to register with your existing or any other username and email; in any case it's advised that you choose a new password for the forum.
~ Duome Team

Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Moderators: MoniqueMaRie, Cifi

sentence bot 🤖

Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Post by sentence bot 🤖 »

Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank.

en: I usually travel to the bank by bus.

Duolingo forum topic: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/53365610

User avatar
Seiryuu
Canada

Re: Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Post by Seiryuu »

Is it really incorrect to place the prepositional phrase at the end?

Ich fahre meistens zur Bank mit dem Bus.

:canada: – Native
:cn: (Cantonese) – Conversational
:de: – Low-intermediate | :it: – Low-intermediate | :jp: – Conversational

User avatar
Explorer
Portugal

Re: Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Post by Explorer »

In German, the modal complement usually comes before the local complement.

🇬🇧 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 | Learning: 🇯🇵 |

Cifi

Re: Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Post by Cifi »

I would understand the two sentences differently:

Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. -> Whenever I go to the bank, I normally take the bus, but occasionally I might use other means of transport.

Ich fahre meistens zur Bank mit dem Bus. -> Whenever I take the bus, I normally go to the bank, but occasionally I might go elsewhere.

The latter doesn't sound very natural, I would suggest a different word order:

Mit dem Bus fahre ich meistens zur Bank.

You can also do this with the first example:

Zur Bank fahre ich meistens mit dem Bus.

Native: :de: Intermediate: :uk: Lower intermediate: :es: Beginner: :fr: Absolute beginner: 🇬🇷
(If there are errors in what I'm writing in either language, please do correct me - I'll never take it as offense or something like that.)

User avatar
pawndemic
Germany

Re: Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Post by pawndemic »

Cifi wrote: Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:34 am

Zur Bank fahre ich meistens mit dem Bus.

I see it like [mention]Cifi[/mention] : You can change the order to emphasize something. In this order "Zur Bank" is emphasized, could be understood as Usually I use the car, but in this case I take the bus.

Therefore, what [mention]Explorer[/mention] said is not incorrect or useless. It helps you sometimes to reckognize, what is more important.

native: 🇩🇪, B2 - C1: 🇬🇧 🇪🇸, A1: 🇫🇷 🇮🇹

User avatar
Dana_Dany Danuta
Poland

Re: Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Post by Dana_Dany Danuta »

Native language: 🇵🇱 Duolingo levels

Be smart and write poems. :D

User avatar
Schnickschnack
Germany

Re: Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. (en → de)

Post by Schnickschnack »

Cifi wrote: Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:34 am

I would understand the two sentences differently:

Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank. -> Whenever I go to the bank, I normally take the bus, but occasionally I might use other means of transport.

Ich fahre meistens zur Bank mit dem Bus. -> Whenever I take the bus, I normally go to the bank, but occasionally I might go elsewhere.

Let me be pedantic. :)

Ich fahre meistens mit dem Bus zur Bank.
Whenever I go to the bank, I normally take the bus, but occasionally I might use other means of transport.

Ich fahre meistens zur Bank, mit dem Bus. (Mind the comma after the bank!)
Whenever I take the bus, I normally go to the bank, but occasionally I might go elsewhere.

Ich fahre meistens zur Bank mit dem Bus. (No comma.)
Most of the time I drive to the bank with the bus.

Image
Bank with a bus

Post Reply

Return to “Sentence discussions”