Kommen or gehen?

Question

I would like to ask:

How do we go from here to Bach street?

for example from someone in the street. Thus, I asked:

Wie gehen wir von hier zur Bachstraße?

But, I was told that I should ask instead:

Wie kommen wir von hier zur Bachstraße? Why is it so?

Björn Friedrich · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-05 15:54:45Z

5

How do we go from here to Bach street?

(Wie gehen wir von hier zur Bachstraße?)

The problem is that already this english sentence is not idiomatic. Instead of

it is more idiomatic to use

The example sentence becomes

How do we get from here to Bach street?

(Wie kommen / gelangen wir von hier zur Bachstraße?)

answered Jul 5 '20 at 15:54

Björn Friedrich

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1

Thanks for writing an answer. – user44338 Jul 5 '20 at 15:57
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@Novice, you are welcome. – Björn Friedrich Jul 5 '20 at 15:58
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Kann man die Proposition "an" in solcher Frage anstatt "zu" nützen? Z.B. in "wie komme ich von hier an den Strand?"? – sermonion x Jul 5 '20 at 16:03
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@sermonionx Sounds good to me. Probably best when there is a line to approach to ("an die Küste, den Strand, den Stadtrand"). With a "point destination" it's "zu" ("wie komme ich zum Bahnhof"); if you can enter something, it can be "in" ("wie komme ich in den Bahnhof " (you don't find the entrance), "in die Stadt, ins Gebäude" etc); with city names it's "nach" ("wie komme ich von hier am besten nach Berlin"). – Peter - Reinstate Monica Jul 5 '20 at 19:26
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Good answer. "Wie gehen wir" could be used to emphasize that we will be walking. – Carsten S Jul 6 '20 at 11:07

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