Breakdown of Dieser Bus fährt nicht dorthin.
nicht
not
der Bus
the bus
fahren
to drive, to travel
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
dorthin
there / to that place (directional)
Questions & Answers about Dieser Bus fährt nicht dorthin.
Why is it dorthin instead of just dort?
dort means "there" when talking about a fixed location (like "The bus is sitting there"). Because the bus is moving towards a destination in this sentence, we need to add hin (which indicates movement away from the speaker). Together, dorthin means "to there".
Can I say dahin instead of dorthin?
Yes, you can! dahin and dorthin both indicate movement to a place away from you, and they are often used interchangeably in everyday German. dorthin can sometimes sound slightly more specific or point to a place further away, but both are perfectly correct here.
I forgot why the verb fahren gets an umlaut here (fährt). Can you remind me?
fahren (to drive/go) is a strong verb that changes its main vowel from a to ä in the du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. Since Dieser Bus acts as a third-person subject ("it"), we use the er/sie/es form, making it fährt.
Why does the word for "this" end in -er (Dieser)?
In German, the word for "this" changes its ending to match the gender and sentence role (case) of the noun it attaches to. Bus is a masculine noun (der Bus) and is the subject of this sentence (nominative case). Therefore, the base word dies- takes the masculine nominative ending -er, becoming Dieser.
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