Breakdown of Ich gehe zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
Questions & Answers about Ich gehe zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
Zum ersten Mal literally comes from zu dem ersten Mal:
- zu = to / at (here: at)
- dem = the (dative, neuter)
- erste
- -n ending = first (adjective in dative)
- Mal = time / occasion
So it literally means “at the first time”, idiomatically “for the first time.”
German almost always uses zum ersten Mal for “for the first time” in this sense:
- Ich gehe zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
= I’m going into town for the first time.
Using something like für das erste Mal would sound wrong or at least very unusual in this context.
Zum is a contraction of zu dem:
- zu (preposition) + dem (dative article) → zum
It’s used before masculine or neuter nouns in the dative singular. Here:
- das Mal (neuter) → dative singular dem Mal
- zu dem Mal → zum Mal
- becomes the fixed phrase zum ersten Mal
So grammatically it’s zu + dem, but in real usage it appears almost always as zum in this expression.
The difference is direction vs location, and it’s shown by the case after in.
- in + accusative = movement into something (direction)
- in + dative = being inside something (location)
In the sentence:
- Ich gehe in die Stadt.
- gehen = to go (movement)
- in
- die (accusative feminine) → into the city / into town
Compare:
- Ich bin in der Stadt.
- bin = to be (no movement)
- in
- der (dative feminine) → in the city / in town
So in die Stadt is used because you are going into the city (change of location), not just located there.
In die Stadt gehen usually means “go into town / go downtown”, not “go to some (possibly far-away) city.”
Typical use:
- You’re in a village or in the suburbs.
- You say Ich gehe in die Stadt, meaning you’re going into the nearby town/city center for shopping, a café, cinema, etc.
It’s similar to English:
- I’m going into town.
Not: - I’m going to a city (any city) somewhere far away.
If you wanted to say you’re going to Berlin (as a destination city), you would say:
- Ich fahre nach Berlin.
not Ich gehe in die Stadt Berlin.
gehen = to go on foot, to walk.
fahren = to go / travel using a vehicle (car, bus, train, bike, etc.).
Ich gehe zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
- Implies you’re walking into town.
Ich fahre zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
- Implies you’re traveling into town by some kind of vehicle.
Both are grammatically correct; you choose based on how you are going. In everyday speech, people sometimes use gehen more loosely, but strictly speaking the difference is about walking vs going by transport.
Yes. German often uses the present tense for near or planned future actions, especially when the context makes it clear:
- Ich gehe morgen zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
= I’m going into town for the first time tomorrow.
Even without morgen, in the right context (e.g. you are talking about your plans for this afternoon), the sentence can refer to the future. If you want to be very explicit about the future, you can use werden:
- Ich werde zum ersten Mal in die Stadt gehen.
= I will go into town for the first time.
But the simple present gehe is very common and natural.
Yes, Ich gehe das erste Mal in die Stadt is grammatically correct and understandable.
However:
- zum ersten Mal is the standard, fixed expression and sounds more natural in most contexts.
- das erste Mal emphasizes “this is the first time” a bit more as a countable event, while zum ersten Mal feels like the neutral idiomatic phrase “for the first time.”
So:
- ✅ Very natural: Ich gehe zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
- ✅ Acceptable but slightly less idiomatic here: Ich gehe das erste Mal in die Stadt.
In German, all nouns are capitalized. Mal in this context is a noun:
- das Mal = (one) time / occasion
- e.g. Dieses Mal, nächstes Mal, jedes Mal
So Mal is capitalized just like Stadt:
- zum ersten Mal
- in die Stadt
- Stadt is feminine: die Stadt.
- After in with movement, we use the accusative.
So the forms are:
- Nominative: die Stadt
- Accusative: die Stadt (same form for feminine)
- Dative: der Stadt
In the sentence:
- in (movement into) → accusative
- die Stadt (accusative feminine)
So in die Stadt = into the city / into town.
If you were talking about being in the city:
- Ich bin in der Stadt. → in
- dative (der Stadt).
Yes, that is correct and perfectly natural:
- Ich gehe zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
- Zum ersten Mal gehe ich in die Stadt.
Both follow the verb-second rule in German:
- In a main clause, the conjugated verb must be in second position.
- “Second position” means second element, not necessarily second word.
Examples:
- Subject first:
- Ich (element 1) gehe (element 2) zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
- Time expression first:
- Zum ersten Mal (element 1) gehe (element 2) ich in die Stadt.
Putting Zum ersten Mal at the start gives it more emphasis:
It is for the first time that I’m going into town.
Both in die Stadt and zur Stadt are possible in German, but they have slightly different nuances:
in die Stadt
- Focus on going into the city area / town center.
- Very common for “going into town” for shopping, etc.
zur Stadt = zu der Stadt
- Grammatically correct but less common in this everyday sense.
- Sounds more like going to the city as a point (e.g. as a destination on a map), or might appear in more formal, written, or somewhat old-fashioned styles, or in specific collocations.
For the normal, everyday idea “go into town”, in die Stadt is standard and most natural.
Yes:
- Ich bin zum ersten Mal in der Stadt.
= I am in the city for the first time.
Difference:
Ich gehe zum ersten Mal in die Stadt.
- Focus on the movement: you are in the process of going there (or about to go there).
- Uses gehen
- in
- accusative (die Stadt).
- in
Ich bin zum ersten Mal in der Stadt.
- Focus on the state: you are already there, in the city now.
- Uses sein
- in
- dative (der Stadt).
- in
So it’s again the direction (accusative) vs location (dative) difference combined with go vs be.