Breakdown of Ich fliege am fünften September nach Spanien.
ich
I
Spanien
Spain
nach
to / towards
fliegen
to fly
Questions & Answers about Ich fliege am fünften September nach Spanien.
Why do we use am before the date?
am is short for an dem (on the). In German, you use am followed by the dative case whenever you state that an event happens on a specific day or date.
Why is the word for 'fifth' written as fünften instead of just fünfte?
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third...) act like adjectives in German. Because the number comes right after am (which contains the dative word dem), it must take the dative adjective ending -n. That is why fünfte becomes fünften.
The translation says 'I am flying', so why is the verb fliege in the normal present tense?
German frequently uses the simple present tense to talk about future plans, as long as the sentence includes a time phrase. Since am fünften September makes it obvious this will happen in the future, you do not need a special future tense verb.
Why do we use the preposition nach to say 'to Spain'?
You use nach to mean 'to' whenever you travel to a city, continent, or a country that does not have 'the' in its name. Since Spain is just Spanien (unlike plural or feminine countries like Switzerland or the USA), nach is the correct preposition here.