Voted Best Answer
Mar 18, 2015 - 08:57 AM
Hallo everyone,
"Nah" and "weit entfernt" can indeed be used as adjectives. So we can have:
Der nahe Bahnhof
Der weit entfernte Flughafen
The important thing to remember is that, as adverbs they are placed at the end unlike "hier", "da" and "da drüben":
Gibt es hier einen Bahnhof?
But:
Gibt es einen Bahnhof nah?
As for your friend's suggestion to use the expression "in der Nähe", @Sayuri, feel free to use the expression when you use "near" in the sense of "nearby" or "close by" but not when you use it as an adjective. So you can say:
Gibt es einen Bahnhof in der Nähe? - Is there a train station nearby?
I know German can be quite confusing which is why we try to stick as close to English as possible (hence our choice to teach "near" as "nah") - and break it down into small steps for you. Often there are many more ways to say the same thing, just like in English. But bear with us, patience and practise and you will see that even German becomes manageable! I hope this helps.
"Nah" and "weit entfernt" can indeed be used as adjectives. So we can have:
Der nahe Bahnhof
Der weit entfernte Flughafen
The important thing to remember is that, as adverbs they are placed at the end unlike "hier", "da" and "da drüben":
Gibt es hier einen Bahnhof?
But:
Gibt es einen Bahnhof nah?
As for your friend's suggestion to use the expression "in der Nähe", @Sayuri, feel free to use the expression when you use "near" in the sense of "nearby" or "close by" but not when you use it as an adjective. So you can say:
Gibt es einen Bahnhof in der Nähe? - Is there a train station nearby?
I know German can be quite confusing which is why we try to stick as close to English as possible (hence our choice to teach "near" as "nah") - and break it down into small steps for you. Often there are many more ways to say the same thing, just like in English. But bear with us, patience and practise and you will see that even German becomes manageable! I hope this helps.