Wir gehen um den See.

We walk around the lake.

Breakdown of Wir gehen um den See.

• wir: we
• den: the; (masculine, accusative)
• der See: the lake
• gehen: to walk

Questions & Answers about Wir gehen um den See.

Why is it den See and not der See?

Because um takes the accusative case when it means around in a sentence like this.

• der See = nominative, the form you would use for the subject
• den See = accusative, the form used here because it is the object of the preposition um

So:

• der See = the lake
• um den See = around the lake

This is a very common thing to watch for in German: the preposition often determines the case.

What does um mean here?

Here, um means around.

So um den See means around the lake.

Be careful, though: um has several meanings in German depending on context, for example:

• um den See = around the lake
• um 8 Uhr = at 8 o’clock
• Es geht um Geld. = It is about money.

So the meaning of um depends a lot on the sentence.

Does gehen mean go or walk here?

In this sentence, gehen is usually understood as walk.

Literally, gehen often corresponds to go, but when talking about moving on foot, English often prefers walk. So in context:

• Wir gehen um den See. = We are walking around the lake.

German uses gehen in places where English might naturally use walk.