Breakdown of Wir fahren nach Norden.
wir
we
fahren
to drive, to travel
nach
to / towards
der Norden
the north
Questions & Answers about Wir fahren nach Norden.
This lesson is about two-way prepositions for direction. Why does this sentence use nach?
While you are learning to use two-way prepositions with the accusative for many destinations (like going in die Stadt), compass directions are a common exception. When heading toward a compass direction, or to a city or country that doesn't use an article, German typically uses the preposition nach and drops the article.
Is it possible to use a two-way preposition to say we are going north?
Yes! You can also say Wir fahren in den Norden. Because you are moving toward a destination, the two-way preposition in takes the accusative masculine article den. Nach Norden is just a shorter, very common alternative that feels a lot like the English phrase "driving north."
Why is Norden capitalized?
In German, all compass directions like Norden (North), Süden (South), Osten (East), and Westen (West) are nouns. Since all German nouns are capitalized, Norden gets a capital letter, even though "north" describes a direction in the English translation.
Does fahren specifically mean that we are driving a car?
Not necessarily! While fahren translates well to "driving" here, it is the general verb for traveling by any vehicle. Whether you are in a car, on a train, on a bicycle, or even on a ship, you would use fahren.
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