Questions & Answers about Wir nehmen ein Taxi.
This lesson is about vowel-changing verbs. Why doesn't nehmen have a vowel change here?
With strong (vowel-changing) verbs, the vowel change only ever happens in the du (you, singular informal) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. For wir (we), the verb stays regular and looks exactly like the dictionary form: wir nehmen. (By the way, nehmen is a bit special when it does change: its 'e' turns into an 'i' and it drops the 'h' to become du nimmst and er nimmt!).
Why does the sentence just say wir nehmen instead of 'we are taking'?
German doesn't have a continuous tense (the English 'am/is/are + -ing' form). The simple present tense wir nehmen covers both 'we take' as a general habit and 'we are taking' right in this moment. The context tells you which one is meant!
Is ein Taxi in the accusative case here?
Yes, it is the direct object (the thing being taken). Because Taxi is a neuter noun (das Taxi), the word for 'a' is ein in both the subject (nominative) and object (accusative) cases. If you were taking a masculine noun like a train (der Zug), you would need the masculine accusative ending: Wir nehmen einen Zug.
Does German use nehmen for transportation the exact same way English uses 'take'?
Yes! You can use nehmen to talk about taking a taxi, taking the bus (den Bus nehmen), or taking a train. It translates perfectly and is the most natural way to express this in German.
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