Breakdown of Reisen Sie zuerst nach Frankreich und dann nach Spanien!
und
and
Sie
you (formal)
Spanien
Spain
reisen
to travel
Questions & Answers about Reisen Sie zuerst nach Frankreich und dann nach Spanien!
Why does this sentence start with Reisen Sie instead of putting the verb in the second position?
This is the formal imperative (command) form. When giving a command to someone you address formally, the rule is to put the verb first in its original form, immediately followed by the pronoun Sie.
How would this command change if I were speaking to a group of friends instead of using the formal Sie?
To give a command to a group of friends (the plural ihr form), you use the verb with a -t ending and drop the pronoun entirely. The sentence would become: Reist zuerst nach Frankreich und dann nach Spanien!
Why do we use nach for 'to' here?
In German, the preposition nach is used when you are traveling to cities, countries, or continents that don't have a 'the' (article) in front of their name. Since Frankreich and Spanien are standard country names, we use nach.
Can I put the word zuerst at the very beginning of the sentence?
Not for a command! In a regular statement, you could say Zuerst reisen Sie nach Frankreich (First, you are traveling to France). But because this is a formal command, the verb and Sie must firmly stay as the first two words.