Der Fahrstuhl bringt uns schnell in die fünfte Etage.

Der Fahrstuhl bringt uns schnell in die fünfte Etage.
The elevator quickly takes us to the fifth floor.

Breakdown of Der Fahrstuhl bringt uns schnell in die fünfte Etage.

in
in
schnell
quickly
bringen
to bring
uns
us
der Fahrstuhl
the elevator
fünfte
fifth
die Etage
the floor
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Questions & Answers about Der Fahrstuhl bringt uns schnell in die fünfte Etage.

Why is Der used before Fahrstuhl rather than Das or Die?

German nouns have grammatical gender. Fahrstuhl is a masculine noun, so in the nominative singular we use the definite article der.

  • Feminine nouns take die in the nominative/accusative.
  • Neuter nouns take das in the nominative/accusative.
Why is Fahrstuhl capitalized?
In German, all nouns are always capitalized, no matter where they appear in a sentence.
Why does the verb bringt come directly after the subject instead of at the end?

This sentence is a main clause, and German main clauses follow the verb-second (V2) rule: the finite (conjugated) verb must occupy the second position. Here the order is:

  1. Subject (Der Fahrstuhl)
  2. Finite verb (bringt)
  3. Everything else (objects, adverbs, phrases…)
What case is uns, and why is it not wir?
Uns is the first-person plural pronoun in both accusative and dative. Here it’s accusative, because it’s the direct object of bringen (“the elevator brings us”). In English we say “us,” not “we,” when we’re the object—similarly, German uses uns, not wir (which is only nominative).
Why is the preposition in followed by die fünfte Etage (accusative) and not dative?

Many two-way prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen) like in govern dative when indicating location (“wo?”) and accusative when indicating motion or direction (“wohin?”).

  • Here it’s motion into the fifth floor → accusative → in die fünfte Etage.
Why is schnell placed before in die fünfte Etage rather than at the end or directly after the verb?

German often orders elements as:

  1. Verb
  2. Object
  3. Manner adverb (how?)
  4. Time/Place phrases
    So uns (object) → schnell (manner) → in die fünfte Etage (place/direction).
Why is fünfte ending in “-te,” and why does it have no extra ending in “Etage”?

Fünfte is the ordinal form of fünf (“five”) meaning “fifth.” You form ordinals by adding -te (or -ste from twenty onward) and then you decline them. Here:

  • Feminine singular accusative of fünfte
    • Etage: die fünfte Etage.
      No additional ending is needed on fünfte beyond the basic -te, because feminine accusative ordinals take -e.
Are there other ways to say “elevator” or “floor” in German?

Yes. Common synonyms are:

  • Fahrstuhl ↔ Aufzug (elevator)
  • Etage ↔ Stockwerk (floor/level)