| Do you remember how the character said, |
| "I'd rather take the subway." |
| Ich nehme lieber die U-Bahn. |
| Ich nehme lieber die U-Bahn. |
| This sentence follows the pattern here: |
| Ich nehme lieber + definite article (accusative) + transportation. |
| "I would rather take the (transport)" |
| This pattern is useful whenever you want to say which type of transportation you prefer. |
| Ich nehme lieber… literally means "I take rather…" but is used to mean "I'd rather take…" or "I prefer to take…" |
| The word lieber is a comparative adverb meaning "rather" or "preferably." |
| The definite article (der, die, das) changes when it's used in the accusative. Since nehmen takes a direct object, the transport word is always in the accusative. |
| Here's how the line from the dialogue uses the pattern. |
| Ich nehme lieber die U-Bahn. |
| "I'd rather take the subway." |
| Let's break it down. |
| Ich means "I." |
| nehme means "take." |
| lieber means "rather." It shows preference. |
| die U-Bahn means "the subway." |
| So altogether, Ich nehme lieber die U-Bahn means "I'd rather take the subway." |
| When you say Ich nehme… in German, the thing you "take" is the direct object, so we always use the accusative case. Let's look at the table together. |
| Here in the first row, we see die U-Bahn. In the nominative, it's die U-Bahn, and in the accusative, it stays die U-Bahn. So for feminine nouns, there is no change. |
| Next, das Auto. In nominative it's das Auto, and in accusative it's still das Auto. Neuter nouns also do not change. |
| Now, look at der Bus. This is where something changes. In nominative it's der Bus, but in accusative it becomes den Bus. That's why we have to say Ich nehme lieber den Bus, not der Bus. |
| And finally, das Fahrrad. Just like das Auto, it stays the same in both nominative and accusative. |
| So remember: der changes to den, but die and das stay the same. That's the rule you need when talking about transportation in German. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| Ich nehme lieber den Bus. |
| "I'd rather take the bus." |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down. |
| Ich means "I." |
| nehme means "take." |
| lieber means "rather." |
| den is the masculine accusative article for Bus. |
| Bus means "bus." |
| So altogether: |
| Ich nehme lieber den Bus. – "I'd rather take the bus." |
| Here's another example |
| Ich nehme lieber die Straßenbahn. |
| "I'd rather take the tram." |
| Ich nehme lieber die Straßenbahn. |
| "I'd rather take the tram." |
| Let's try one more, |
| Ich nehme lieber das Taxi. |
| "I'd rather take the taxi." |
| Ich nehme lieber das Taxi. |
| "I'd rather take the taxi." |
| Another one. |
| Ich nehme lieber den Zug. |
| "I'd rather take the train." |
| Ich nehme lieber den Zug. |
| "I'd rather take the train." |
| One last example. |
| Ich nehme lieber die Fähre. |
| "I'd rather take the ferry." |
| Ich nehme lieber die Fähre. |
| "I'd rather take the ferry." |
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