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Lesson 30: Countries and travel. Ich fahre nach / in die

Vocabulary: Geography — countries, continents, capital, border, planning a trip

Completing this lesson will add to your overall progress:

VocabularyA1+2%A2+3%B1+2%
GrammarA1+1%A2+4%B1+2%

How to work with this lesson

  1. Read the rule — understand the logic (5 minutes)
  2. Translate the exercises in writing — check against the key
  3. Say it out loud — slowly, consciously, analyzing every preposition
  4. Speed up — drill the matrix until it flies out on autopilot

You can already talk about the past in Präteritum. Now we learn how to say where you're going, where you're from, and where you live. Every travel conversation runs on these three.

Part 1: Why you can't say "Ich fahre in Deutschland"

In English it's simple: "I'm going to Germany." One preposition — "to". Done.

In German, the preposition depends on the country. Some take nach, others take in die or in den. Pick the wrong one and you sound like you're going "onto Germany" instead of "to Germany".

Good news: most countries are article-free. That means most take nach. The handful with articles you just memorize as exceptions.

Part 2: The main hack — "Article? → in. No article? → nach"

No article → nach. Has an article → in + Akkusativ.

That's the whole logic. Germany, France, Russia, Japan — no article. Nach Deutschland, nach Frankreich, nach Russland, nach Japan.

Switzerland, Turkey, Iran, the USA — they have articles. In die Schweiz, in die Türkei, in den Iran, in die USA.

Remember the country's article — the preposition falls into place by itself.

Part 3: Four prepositions — four situations

SituationPrepositionCaseExample
Where to? (no article)nach—Ich fahre nach Deutschland
Where to? (with article)inAkkusativIch fahre in die Schweiz
Where? (location)inDativIch lebe in Deutschland / in der Schweiz
Where from?ausDativIch komme aus Russland / aus der Türkei

Three things to nail down:

  1. nach works ONLY with countries that have no article. "Nach die Schweiz" — gross error.
  2. in changes case: where to? → Akkusativ (in die Schweiz), where? → Dativ (in der Schweiz).
  3. aus — always Dativ. From an article-free country: aus Russland. With article: aus der Schweiz, aus dem Iran.

Trap! "Ich fahre nach Schweiz" — wrong! Switzerland is one of the few countries with an article (die Schweiz). Correct: "Ich fahre in die Schweiz". But "Ich fahre nach Österreich" is fine, because Austria has no article.

Part 4: Countries with an article — the full list

There aren't many. Learn them as exceptions:

CountryArticle + NominativWhere to? (Akk)Where? (Dat)Where from? (Dat)
Switzerlanddie Schweizin die Schweizin der Schweizaus der Schweiz
Turkeydie Türkeiin die Türkeiin der Türkeiaus der Türkei
Ukrainedie Ukrainein die Ukrainein der Ukraineaus der Ukraine
USAdie USA (plural!)in die USAin den USAaus den USA
Netherlandsdie Niederlande (pl.)in die Niederlandein den Niederlandenaus den Niederlanden
Irander Iranin den Iranim Iranaus dem Iran
Iraqder Irakin den Irakim Irakaus dem Irak

Anchor: Feminine countries ending in -ei and -iz always take the article die: die Türkei, die Schweiz, die Mongolei, die Slowakei. See -ei or -iz — slap die on it.

Trap! USA is plural in German. So in Dativ it's: in den USA, aus den USA (not "in der USA"!). In Akkusativ: in die USA — just like a normal plural. English speakers want to treat "the USA" as singular — Germans don't.

Next up: Lesson 31 — Zu + Infinitiv at the end of the sentence. You'll see why Germans say "Ich versuche, pünktlich zu kommen" ("I try to come on time") — and how this construction is the gateway to complex sentences. The English "to + verb" pattern translates almost 1:1: "zu + verb".

Lesson 30: Countries and travel. Ich fahre nach / in die · Deutsch · Glottos Matrix