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Learn Hardcore German: Wir gehen langsam vorwärts. - We are walking forwards slowly.

Hardcore German
/Navigating an airport
/Wir gehen langsam vorwärts.

Wir gehen langsam vorwärts.

Wir gehen langsam vorwärts.

We are walking forwards slowly.

Breakdown of Wir gehen langsam vorwärts.

Questions & Answers about Wir gehen langsam vorwärts.

Why is wir used here, and what form of gehen is gehen?

Wir means we.
Gehen is the 1st person plural form of the verb gehen (to go / to walk).

Present tense of gehen:

ich gehe
du gehst
er/sie/es geht
wir gehen
ihr geht
sie/Sie gehen

So wir gehen = we go / we are going, depending on context.

Why is the verb in the second position?

In a normal German main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position. This is often called the V2 rule.

In this sentence:

Wir = first element
gehen = verb in second position
langsam vorwärts = the rest of the sentence

So the basic structure is:

Wir gehen langsam vorwärts.

German does not usually keep the same rigid subject + verb + object pattern as English in every case, but in main clauses the verb still typically stays in second position.

What does langsam do in this sentence?

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Langsam means slowly here. It is an adverb, describing how we are going forward.

So:

gehen = go
langsam = slowly

A useful point for English speakers: in German, many words can be used as either adjectives or adverbs without changing form.

Examples:

ein langsames Auto = a slow car (adjective)
Das Auto fährt langsam. = The car drives slowly (adverb)

So in Wir gehen langsam vorwärts, langsam is functioning like slowly.

What does vorwärts mean exactly?

Vorwärts means forward or forwards.

It describes the direction of movement. So the sentence is not just about moving slowly, but about moving ahead rather than backward or standing still.

Compare:

Wir gehen langsam. = We are going slowly.
Wir gehen langsam vorwärts. = We are moving slowly forward.

So vorwärts adds the idea of direction.

Why are there two adverbs, langsam and vorwärts?

Because they express different kinds of information:

langsam = how the action happens
vorwärts = in what direction the action happens

English does the same thing:

We move slowly forward.

So this is a very natural combination in German.

Could the word order be different, like Wir gehen vorwärts langsam?

It is possible to change word order in German, but Wir gehen langsam vorwärts is the most natural neutral version here.

Why?

langsam describes the manner
vorwärts gives the direction
putting langsam before vorwärts sounds natural: slowly forward

Wir gehen vorwärts langsam sounds awkward in most normal contexts.

You could also front another element for emphasis:

Langsam gehen wir vorwärts.
Vorwärts gehen wir langsam.
This one is more marked and would usually need a special context.

So for everyday use, Wir gehen langsam vorwärts is the best choice.

Why is it vorwärts and not nach vorne?

Both can express forward movement, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.

vorwärts = forward / forwards, often as a single directional adverb
nach vorne = toward the front / to the front

In many situations, vorwärts sounds more compact and idiomatic when talking about movement in a forward direction.

Compare:

Wir gehen langsam vorwärts. = We move slowly forward.
Wir gehen langsam nach vorne. = We go slowly toward the front.

The second version can sound more like movement toward the front area of something, while vorwärts emphasizes the forward direction itself.

Does gehen mean walk, or can it just mean go?

It can mean both, depending on context.

gehen often suggests going on foot
but it can also be used more generally for go

In this sentence, because of vorwärts, it feels like actual physical movement, so an English speaker might naturally understand it as:

We are walking slowly forward or
We are moving slowly forward

The exact English translation depends on the situation.

Why doesn’t German use something like are going here?

German does not usually have a separate continuous/progressive tense like English am going / are going.

Instead, the simple present often covers both ideas:

Wir gehen can mean:
- we go
- we are going

The context tells you which one is meant.

So Wir gehen langsam vorwärts can naturally mean:

We go slowly forward or more idiomatically in many situations:
We are moving slowly forward

How is vorwärts pronounced?

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

FOR-vairts

A few details:

v in German is often pronounced like English f in words of German origin, and that is the case in vorwärts
ä sounds somewhat like the vowel in air for many learners, though not exactly
w in German is pronounced like English v
ts at the end is clearly pronounced

So vorwärts sounds roughly like FOR-vehrts.

Is vorwärts spelled as one word because it comes from vor + wärts?

Yes. Vorwärts is a fixed adverb meaning forward.

German often forms directional adverbs this way:

vorwärts = forward
rückwärts = backward
seitwärts = sideways

It is written as one word, and you should learn it as a single vocabulary item.

Can this sentence also be used in a figurative sense, not just literal movement?

Yes, sometimes.

Literally, it means physical movement forward.

But in a broader context, it can also suggest making progress, especially if the speaker is talking about a project, a process, or a difficult situation.

For example, it could imply:

We are progressing slowly.
We are moving ahead, but only little by little.

Still, without extra context, the most direct reading is the literal one: moving slowly forward.

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