This is an example of using the adverb dorther from Mastering German Vocabulary:
English: how far is it from there to Berlin?
German: wie weit ist es dorther von Berlin?
Is this correct? Why is it von and not nach?
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If you want to use the available pieces, you could say: "Wie weit ist Berlin von dorther." Still, this sentence sounds strange.– Frank from FrankfurtJan 17, 2019 at 11:59
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8The way to use "dorther" that I would recommend to most learners is to not use it at all.– Carsten SJan 17, 2019 at 12:24
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"dorthin" would make more sense. but then it would no longer mean the same as the english original. this is either archaic or plain wrong– dlatikayJan 17, 2019 at 21:52
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1@CarstenS why? Newspapers use it so it's obviosuly not outdated.– hash-tagMar 3, 2021 at 19:49
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2 Answers
"dorther" is in theory a correct german word, but nobody uses it in this context (anymore). The correct sentence would be:
Wie weit ist es von dorther nach Berlin?
However, much more common would be:
Wie weit ist es von dort nach Berlin?
"von dort" = "from there"
"nach Berlin" = "to Berlin"
it is correct because "nach" indicates a direction/ a movement forward (-->) whereas in this case there is no idea of movement hence: "von".
"Berlin liegt X km von dorther entfernt." --> entfernt kann nicht wegfallen
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Welcome to German.Stackexchange! Unfortunately your first answer seems to be wrong and instead of writing comments with critique, people decided to go the easy way and downvote your answer.– IrisJan 17, 2019 at 12:59
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The original sentence: "how far is it from there to Berlin?" does have movement in it, moving from "there" to "Berlin". How do you explain that?– IrisJan 17, 2019 at 13:02