A question about Wechselpräpositionen

Question

I study german in entry level, My source is Spektrum A1+

In lesson 7, there is a sentence i didn't understand, it says:

Die Gäste fahren in Zügen

So my question is: why "Zügen" is in dativ not Akkusativ, and also why "in" is used instead of "mit". I always knew that "mit" is the only preposition used with transport in german language.

Answer 1

Hello Jessica

Your confusion is understandable. I am a native speaker and your example with in Zügen strikes me not necessarily as wrong but certainly as extremely rare. You are definitely right to say that the standard preposition for means of transport is mit : mit dem Zug reisen, mit dem Flugzeug fliegen, mit dem Auto fahren and so on.

That said, if you are asking about Wechselpräpositionen, in is of course one of those prepositions that govern both the dative and accusative cases. Which case it is depends on the verb. Normally, if the verb expresses movement, the accusative case must be used; if there is no movement it's the dative. Example:

Er geht ins (=in+das) Büro (he goes into the office) Gehen expresses movement, therefore accusative

Sie arbeitet im (=in+dem) Büro (she works in the office) No movement, therefore dative

That's pretty straightforward although other examples could be quoted that are a little harder. How about this one: Which is correct, Wir gehen in den Park (accusative) or Wir gehen in dem Park (dative) ? Answer, both are correct but the meaning differs. In the first statement we have movement from somewhere outside the park into the park, therefore the accusative case is correct. In the second statement we are just moving within the boundaries of the park (taking a stroll in the park). While there is movement inside the park there is no movement relative to the park as a whole, therefore dative is correct. Likewise, it would not be incorrect to say sie geht im Büro if by that you mean that she is pacing around her desk or up and down the aisle.

But, I admit, this doesn't really help with Die Gäste fahren in Zügen unless we imagine those Gäste riding on scooters inside the trains. That would be a correct use of the dative similar to the example above with the stroll in the park or someone moving about inside the office. I am not familiar with the textbook you're quoting from but I would say that such an unusal interpretation is unnecessarily confusing, especially if it's addressing only A1 level students. In all likelihood the book assumes that in Zügen fahren is equivalent to mit Zügen fahren. Not wrong but very rare!

Perhaps not a very satisfying answer but that's the best I can do.