Breakdown of Wir mussten am Bahnsteig umsteigen, aber der Zug fuhr in Eile ab.
Questions & Answers about Wir mussten am Bahnsteig umsteigen, aber der Zug fuhr in Eile ab.
umsteigen literally means “to change” (trains, buses, etc.)—that is, to get off one vehicle and onto another.
Use it whenever your journey requires a transfer:
- Ich steige in München um. (I change trains in Munich.)
- Wir müssen am Flughafen umsteigen. (We have to change at the airport.)
German separable-prefix verbs (like umsteigen, abfahren, ankommen) are written as a single word in the infinitive and in non-finite forms. The prefix only detaches in finite verb forms:
- Present: ich steige um
- Präteritum: ich stieg um
But in the infinitive (here after a modal verb) it stays together: umsteigen.
In German, when you use a modal verb (müssen) in a main clause, the finite form of the modal takes the second position (here mussten), and the main verb goes into its infinitive form at the very end:
… mussten … umsteigen.
- Bahnhof = station (the entire train station building or complex).
- Bahnsteig = platform (the raised area beside the tracks where you board or leave a train).
In German, when aber (as well as denn, sondern, doch) connects two independent main clauses, you must place a comma before it:
Wir mussten umsteigen[,] aber der Zug fuhr in Eile ab.
- German often uses the Präteritum (simple past) in written or narrative contexts.
- For the separable verb abfahren, the past stem is fuhr, and the prefix ab goes to the end:
Der Zug fuhr … ab
In the perfect you’d say Der Zug ist abgefahren (prefix attached in the past participle).
in Eile is an idiomatic expression meaning “in a hurry” or “in haste.”
Some fixed expressions with Eile drop the article. You could say in der Eile, but that sounds more formal or poetic; everyday German uses in Eile.
Yes. eilig is an adjective used adverbially (“hurriedly”), so Der Zug fuhr eilig ab is grammatically correct.
- in Eile focuses on the state of being in a hurry.
- eilig describes the manner (“the train departed hurriedly”).
Both are fine; in Eile is just a very common idiom.