Questions & Answers about Wir fahren gern Rad.
The lesson is about the vowel change from "a" to "ä". Why isn't there an Umlaut in fahren here?
The vowel change in strong verbs only happens in the du (you, singular) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. Because the subject here is wir (we), the verb keeps its original vowel and just takes the standard infinitive ending. If it were "he likes cycling", you would see the change: er fährt gern Rad.
Why are Rad and fahren separated in this sentence?
The phrase Rad fahren (to cycle / to ride a bike) acts a lot like a separable verb. In a standard German sentence, the conjugated verb (fahren) takes the second position, and the noun part (Rad) gets kicked all the way to the end of the sentence.
How does gern translate to "like"?
German doesn't typically use a verb for "to like" when talking about doing an activity. Instead, it uses the adverb gern, which means "gladly" or "with pleasure." You place it directly after the verb. So, wir fahren gern literally means "we drive gladly."
Why isn't there an article like ein (a) before Rad?
When referring to the general activity or sport of cycling, German just pairs the noun Rad directly with fahren without any articles. You only use an article if you are talking about riding a specific bicycle, rather than the hobby of cycling.
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