Breakdown of Der Zug fährt durch den Tunnel.
der Zug
the train
fahren
to drive, to travel
durch
through
der Tunnel
the tunnel
Questions & Answers about Der Zug fährt durch den Tunnel.
Why is it den Tunnel and not der Tunnel?
The preposition durch always requires the accusative case. Since Tunnel is a masculine noun (der Tunnel), the word for "the" changes from der to den in the accusative.
Wait, Tunnel is an English word. How do I know its German gender?
Even loanwords borrowed from other languages get a grammatical gender in German! Tunnel is masculine (der Tunnel). Remembering its gender is important so you can correctly change it to den Tunnel after accusative prepositions like durch.
Why is there an umlaut (two dots) on fährt?
The verb fahren (to drive or travel) is an irregular verb. For the "he, she, or it" forms in the present tense, the vowel 'a' changes to 'ä'. Because der Zug (the train) acts as a third-person singular subject, the verb becomes fährt.
Can I use geht instead of fährt to say the train "goes" through the tunnel?
No, you should stick to fährt. In English, we often say a train "goes" or "runs", but the German verb gehen specifically implies walking on foot. For wheeled vehicles like trains, cars, and bicycles, you need to use fahren.