Question 1

Why do the numbers achtzehn and neunzehn end in -ten here?

Accepted Answer

When you want to say "on the" for a date in German, you use am followed by the ordinal number. For numbers 1 through 19, the basic ordinal ending is -te. But because the word am (which is short for an dem) requires the dative case, an extra -n is added. That makes them achtzehnten and neunzehnten.

Question 2

Are ordinal numbers usually written out as full words like this?

Accepted Answer

Not usually! Just like in English, it is much more common to write dates using digits. In German, you add a period after the number to show it is an ordinal. So in everyday texts, you would normally see this written as am 18. oder 19. rather than having the full words spelled out.

Question 3

Why does this sentence use sind to say we drove?

Accepted Answer

The verb fahren means to drive or travel, which is a movement from one place to another. In the conversational past tense (the Perfekt), verbs that describe a change of location must use sein (to be) as their helper verb instead of haben (to have). Since the subject is wir, the helper verb is sind.

Question 4

Why is it nach Frankreich and not another word for "to"?

Accepted Answer

When you are traveling to a specific geographic place like a city, country, or continent that does not use a definite article (a word like "the"), German uses the preposition nach. If the country did have an article, like Switzerland does (die Schweiz), you would use the preposition in instead.

Wir sind am achtzehnten oder neunzehnten nach Frankreich gefahren.

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