Breakdown of Der nächste Zug kommt gleich.
kommen
to come
der Zug
the train
gleich
almost / soon (in a moment)
nächste
next
Questions & Answers about Der nächste Zug kommt gleich.
Why does the adjective nächste end in -e here?
In this sentence, Der nächste Zug is the subject, so it is in the nominative case. When an adjective comes after a definite article (der, die, or das) in the nominative case, it simply takes an -e ending. Because the noun is masculine (der Zug), the adjective becomes nächste.
Are the words nah (near) and nächste (next) related?
Yes! nächste is actually the superlative (the "most" form) of nah. Just like "near, nearer, nearest" in English, German has nah, näher, am nächsten. When placed directly in front of a noun, it translates as "the next" (literally "the nearest").
Doesn't gleich mean "equal" or "same"?
It does! However, when used to talk about time, gleich means "soon," "shortly," or "in a minute." It is extremely common in spoken German for indicating that something is about to happen right away.
Why does the sentence use the present tense kommt if the train is arriving in the future?
In German, it is perfectly normal to use the present tense to talk about the future, as long as the context makes it clear. Here, the time word gleich (soon) tells us it is happening in the near future, so saying kommt instead of using a complex future tense is exactly how native speakers talk.
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