Breakdown of Gehst du zur Post?
du
you (informal singular)
die Post
the post office
gehen
to go
zur
to the (zu + der)
Questions & Answers about Gehst du zur Post?
Where does the word zur come from?
The word zur is a contraction of the preposition zu (to) and the definite article der (the). Because the preposition zu always forces the following words into the dative case, the feminine noun die Post changes its article to der Post. German speakers then squish zu and der together to make zur.
Why does a feminine word like Post use der, which is a masculine article?
This is a very common trap for beginners! In German, the feminine article die changes to der whenever it is in the dative case. It looks exactly like the masculine word for "the", but here it just shows that a feminine noun is following a dative preposition.
Could I just say Gehst du zu der Post instead?
Grammatically, yes, but German speakers almost always use the short form zur in normal conversation. Using the contraction sounds much more natural, similar to how English speakers say "don't" instead of "do not".
How do we form a question like this without a question word like "where"?
To ask a yes/no question in German, you simply move the verb to the very front of the sentence. Here, the verb gehst swaps places with the subject du (you) to turn a normal statement into a question.
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