Breakdown of Fahrt an die Küste, der Strand da ist länger!
sein
to be
fahren
to drive, to travel
an
at, on (vertical) / to (addressee) / of (in quantity/stock expressions)
lang
long
da
there
der Strand
the beach
die Küste
the coast
Questions & Answers about Fahrt an die Küste, der Strand da ist länger!
Why does lang change to länger with an umlaut?
In German, many short, one-syllable adjectives with an a, o, or u get an umlaut in their comparative form. So lang (long) becomes länger (longer). Other common examples include alt changing to älter and groß changing to größer.
Why does the sentence start with Fahrt? Who is being told to drive?
Fahrt is the informal plural command form (the imperative for ihr). The speaker is telling two or more people they know well to drive. If they were talking to just one friend, it would be Fahr, and for formal situations, Fahren Sie.
Why is it an die Küste instead of an der Küste?
The preposition an is a two-way preposition. Because the sentence describes movement towards a destination (driving to the coast), it takes the accusative case (die Küste). If you were already parked at the coast, it would take the dative case (an der Küste).
Why is da placed right after der Strand?
Putting da (there) right after the noun is a very common and natural way to say 'the beach over there' or 'that beach there' in German. You could also change the word order to da ist der Strand länger (there, the beach is longer), but der Strand da specifically points out exactly which beach you mean.
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