The difference between zu, nach and in - all you need "to" know

Ever wanted to go to another city or to one of your friends?
Ever thought it makes a linguistic difference? While in English it doesn't, German is a little different... again. There are two words in German and they're actually pretty different. The heroes of this article are nach and zu (well... "in" is sth. like a sidekick I guess).

nach and zu both mean "to" but they're not interchangeable.

You use nach when going to a specific city, country or continent. (except for Antarctica... in case this is a continent to you) Still you should be careful here, because you only use "nach" when using the name of that place. So you go "nach London" but "zu" a city. Same counts for continents and countries. Always when not mentioning the specific name but just saying "this country" or so... you'll have to use zu.

Using "zu" is pretty easy because you can always use it when not using "nach". Well... always except when emphasizing that you enter a building. Then you will use "in". When going downtown, you'll also have to use "in". In German this would be: "Ich gehe in die Stadt." or "Ich gehe in die Innenstadt." (Stadt = city; Innenstadt = city center or "inner city")

I used "zu der" for the sake of simplicity. Actually "zu der" becomes "zur", so people would normally say: "Ich gehe zur Bibliothek."

So when going to the library, in and zu are basically interchangeable, since you're usually going to enter the library when going to it. In case you're going there to meet a friend of yours in front of the library, then "zu" is the right choice.

"Ich gehe zu der Bibliothek um dort einen Freund zu treffen."
"I'm going to the library to meet a friend (there)."

Some Germans even don't get the difference between "zu" and "nach". They'll say stuff like "Ich gehe nach Aldi." (Aldi is a popular supermarket in Germany... since supermarkets are no countries, no matter how popular they are... "zu" is actually the right word) If you ever hear a German saying something like that to you, you have only one choice. Start screaming and run for it - don't let him ruin your grammar! ;)



Expert Tip:
Some word-combinations merge into one single word. This is the case with the following words.

zu der = zur (Ich gehe zur Bilbiothek. / "I go to the library.")
zu dem = zum (Ich gehe zum Supermarkt. / "I go to the supermarket.")
in das = ins (Ich gehe ins Haus. / "I go into/enter the house.")

While zu der and zur (etc.) have the exact same meaning, it's actually best to use those compound words (zur/zum/ins) whenever possible. People are far more likely to say "Ich gehe zum Supermarkt." instead of "Ich gehe zu dem Supermarkt.".



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Yes we can... - be polite - The difference between du and Sie

"It must be my wrinkles...! I'm sure it's them! Or is it my hair!? I bet it's already turning grey!"

That's how people make me feel that start the online-conversation with "Guten Tag, wie geht es Ihnen?"*. God...! I am not that old guys! Well... but first things first! In German we've got two ways of saying "you". One form is formal, the other one is... well... less formal. I proudly present those two forms to you:

I know it's pointless to give an English translation here...

Well, seems like you cannot translate everything, right? Distinguishing between the two ways is pretty easy though. It's more or less the equivalent of calling somebody by his first name or by his family name. So you'll say "du" to Bob but you'll say "Sie" to Mr. Smith (Herr Schmidt would be the German equivalent of Mr. Smith).

Still you guys should be careful, especially when being from the US. We've got a little cultural difference here! Modern English lacks of this formal way to refer to a person and usually people will start using the first name quickly. So your business partner Mr. Smith might soon become your good old pal Bob. In Germany he would probably stay Herr Schmidt for much longer, maybe even for the rest of your life.

"Sie" is usually used when talking to people of respect or that you have a professional relation with. Business partners, teachers, your boss or strangers (adults) are usually among this group. Using "Sie" shows a certain amount of distance and is pretty impersonal. In case people might have to evaluate you they might also use "Sie" to keep a distance and to prevent personal feelings from influencing their evaluation. (god... that sounds so German)

I strongly reccomend you to use "du" when talking to friends, family members, random people on the web and kids or young people. In case you're a university student better use "du" when talking to other students. Even the German freshmen often confuse it, especially when talking to those poor postgraduates.
It also happens that people offer you the "du" which goes along with calling them by their first name.

"Hello, Mr. Smith!"
"Call me Bob!"

As you can see we can be really polite! It might still sound like shouting and yelling... but it might be the most formal yelling you will ever hear.

*Another thing you should also know is that using "Guten Tag" is also a pretty formal way of saying hello. "Hallo" is perfectly fine in most situations, especially the less formal ones.




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Bubble tea - why some things should not be translated

In Germany, bubble tea really got popular these days. So I bought some to try it. Cold drink for hot summers - nice! The only thing that worried me a bit were the anime-styled crabs on the cup which were just way too cute for a guy. It made me feel like a teenage girl.

This stuff is really called “Bubble Tea” here, and as you can easily see: that does not sound very German!
There are many words in German which we simply don’t translate. The English words are often kept. This sometimes has the effect of sounding more modern, “cooler” or… well… at least less crappy.

There simply are some things that better remain in their original language. “Bubble Tea” is one of those words too. While the English name sounds trendy and modern, directly translating it into “Blasentee” makes it sound very… popular for the generation 70+. Blasentee is a word that already exists and which people use that have a troubling bladder. Since “Blase” can mean “bubble” and “bladder” alike this is a coincidence that might… go along with marketing problems.

Modern things or technical devices are usually not being translated. A laptop is still a Laptop in German for example (except for the capitalization part).

There’s a crazy habit in Germany which is… translating English words... into English.
So how does that work? It’s actually pretty easy: You take an English word and then you change it into another English word. So… in Germany a mobile or cellphone is a “Handy”. Most Germans don’t even know that this is the germanized version of this word. Even less people know that what is called a “Beamer” in Germany is actually a “projector” in "real" English. So in case some German people are using these words… now you know what they're talking about.

I’m not sure about the reasons for these changes so I can only guess. When saying "Projektor" most Germans are usually talking about slide projectors or maybe overhead projectors. Those things are not really modern and "beamer" just sounds really fancy for German ears. So the name was probably changed for marketing reasons.

There are also words which are being used in English although they're originally German. Doppelgänger is one example for such a loan word. Looks really familiar, right? Well... except for the Umlaut.

So be careful with what you order in Germany and don't try to translate every word you know. Otherwise you might end up drinking the wrong kind of "bubble tea"... or worse.

Umlauts - two dots that make a difference

Many love them, some fear them and few can type them. The German umlauts (Umlaute) ä, ö and ü are not the only ones I will show you. I will also present the ß to you. It might look like a beta, but actually it's pretty different. Umlauts can be pretty important because some konjugated forms contain them although the infinitive doesn't. This can also happen with plurals like in Maus and Mäuse (mouse - mice).



How to type them?
When using windows there  actually is a way for you to type them. Depending on your windows version it might differ a little, but usually you can find it in the regional and country specific options. You can change the language settings of your keyboard there and add German as the "language" of your keyboard. Don't worry, it's no problem to switch back. Just alt + shift will do the job and your keyboard is back to... whatever it was.

This is how a German (well... mine...) keyboard looks like.

You can see the location of the umlauts here, same as you can see that the ß is next to the zero. Location of z and y also differ.

Too much work? Well, there's another option for you.

That's how you can also do it:

ä -> ae
ü -> ue
ö -> oe
ß -> ss

Writing ae instead of ä is also totally correct. Writing a instead of ä is wrong though because... well... because ä and a are simply not the same thing. ;) When doing a German crossword puzzle this is how you do it too. (and please never use a "B" instead of ß... that's really odd. It's like using a P instead of an R. Just one stroke is missing but... well... still not really the same, right?)

Enough writing, let's go oral. So how to pronunce them?
Let's start with the ß. When actually saying "ß" you say "s-z" (es-zet - german pronunciation of course). The ß is a long hissing sound. Different than the ß the "ss" is a short hissing sound. (so using ss instead of ß is actually not always right... but it will have suffice in case you have no german keyboard). Still, when reading a text you will get a good hint about how things are pronunced when knowing that difference.

I will further explain the pronunciation in another post soon.

So for now... have fun with your brandnew umlauts!




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