Breakdown of Wir eilen zum Bahnhof.
wir
we
der Bahnhof
the train station
zum
to the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
eilen
to hurry
Questions & Answers about Wir eilen zum Bahnhof.
What does eilen mean exactly, and how is it different from sich beeilen?
Both are related to hurrying, but they’re used slightly differently:
eilen = to hurry, to rush, to go quickly
- Focuses more on moving quickly somewhere.
- Wir eilen zum Bahnhof. = We hurry / rush to the train station.
sich beeilen = to hurry up
- More like telling someone to be faster, to get a move on.
- Wir beeilen uns. = We’re hurrying (up).
You could also say:
- Wir beeilen uns und gehen zum Bahnhof. = We hurry up and go to the station.
Both are correct, but eilen sounds a bit more formal or literary than sich beeilen, which is more common in everyday speech.
Is eilen a regular verb? How do you conjugate it in the present tense?