Answers
Jun 25, 2012 - 11:20 AM
From my understanding, when you use "in" as "to/into" you use the accusative case (however, when you say "in das Restaurant" it is usually contracted to "ins Restaurant"). When you use "zu" it seems it is a more directional form, usually meaning you will go someplace but not necessarily go inside, a good example is is describing going to a meeting: "Ich gehe zum Treffen"
Jun 25, 2012 - 09:32 PM
I'm sorry. I still don't understand.
Jun 26, 2012 - 06:36 PM
Hi Syndi - You're correct with your Restaurant example. "Ich gehe zum (zu+dem) Restaurant" means "I go to the restaurant." Think of it like "I go to the restaurant, then make a left on Church street to get to the hospital. Which way do you go?" "Ich gehe ins (in+das) Restaurant" means "I go to the restaurant...for really good meatloaf." Clearly, you're going INTO the restaurant. So, same thing with your hospital visit question. Ich gehe ins (in+das) Krankenhaus means "I go to (into) the hospital." But if you're saying "I'm going to (into) the hospital...with a gift for Mark" you'd probably want to use "Ich bin mit einem Geschenk für Mark ins (in+das) Krankenhaus gehen/fahren." Hope this helps.
Jun 26, 2012 - 06:48 PM
You mean - gegangen/gefahren ? ;) It took me some time to grap the "in" vs. "zu" concept, just keep practicing :)
Jun 26, 2012 - 07:21 PM
Here is a good Yahoo Answers question that addresses this. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...
Jul 05, 2012 - 02:03 AM
zum is more like "to the", like maybe a contraction of "zu dem""
Jul 24, 2012 - 04:16 PM
Its pretty confusing. The best way I've seen this is to think "into" relating to going into a (in ein) restaurant versus zum I like to think of is heading in the direction of the restaurant (but not venturing inside). -- If this isn't correct, then we're both confused and I'd appreciate help too, cause I'm clearly under the false impression that I finally figured it out... level 2, lesson 5 (I think).