Word
Wir wohnen in der Nähe von der Schule.
Meaning
We live near the school.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wir wohnen in der Nähe von der Schule.
wohnen
to live
wir
we
die Schule
the school
in der Nähe von
near, close to
Questions & Answers about Wir wohnen in der Nähe von der Schule.
Why is it in der Nähe instead of in die Nähe?
in is a two-way preposition. Because this sentence describes a fixed location answering the question 'where?', it takes the Dative case. The noun for vicinity is feminine (die Nähe), so the word for 'the' becomes der in the Dative case.
What does in der Nähe literally mean?
It literally translates to 'in the vicinity' or 'in the closeness'. die Nähe is a noun meaning 'vicinity' or 'proximity'. Instead of using 'near' as a single preposition like we often do in English, German uses this phrase.
Why do we need the word von here?
Because in der Nähe acts like a noun phrase meaning 'in the vicinity', you connect it to the school by saying 'in the vicinity OF the school'. In German, von usually means 'from', but it is also very commonly used to mean 'of' in phrases like this.
Why is it von der Schule if the dictionary word is die Schule?
The preposition von always forces the noun that follows it into the Dative case, regardless of movement or location. Since Schule is a feminine noun (die Schule), the Dative word for 'the' changes from die to der.