Glossary |
| der Bahnhof |
The station |
| der Hauptbahnhof |
The central station |
| das Reisezentrum |
The travel centre |
| die Abfahrtstafel |
The departure board |
| einmal |
"One ticket". It literally means "once". |
| nach Kassel |
The preposition "nach" always takes the dative case. You should use it when you are travelling to a town or country - provided that the country is neuter. |
| einfach... |
This means "single" as in a "single ticket". As we have seen earlier, the literal meaning of the word is "simple". |
| ...oder hin und zurück? |
"...or return?" Literally: "there and back". |
| die Klasse |
class |
| erster oder zweiter Klasse |
This means "first or second class". Note the endings on the ordinal numbers. |
| die BahnCard |
A BahnCard from the German railway company Deutsche Bahn entitles you to substantial reductions on the entire German rail network and on most regional buses for the duration of one year. |
| die Fahrkarte |
The ticket |
| ohne |
This preposition meaning "without" always takes the accusative case. |
| halb zehn |
This means "half-past nine" and not "half-past ten". See Chapter 8. |
| ungefähr |
approximately |
| fahren |
This means "to go", when you are not travelling by foot. It is an irregular verb. |
| der Zug |
train |
| pünktlich |
punctually |
| Fährt der Zug pünktlich? |
Is the train on time? |
| selbstverständlich |
of course |
| das Gleis |
This means "platform" when you are asking from which platform a train departs. In fact, "das Gleis" literally means the railway track itself. |
| von welchem Gleis? |
from which platform? |
| der ICE-Zug |
An "ICE train". "ICE" stands for InterCity Express. |
| der RegionalExpress |
A "regional express train". This is a stopping train, but it is faster
than you might assume. |
| der Zuschlag |
A "supplement". You have to pay a supplementary charge to travel on an ICE train. But as Ken's train is not an ICE, the official informs him that there is no supplement to pay. |
| direkt |
direct; directly |
| der Zug fährt direkt |
"This is a direct train". Literally: "This train travels directly". |
| ankommen |
This means "to arrive". The verb "ankommen"
is a separable verb, a type of verb which will be discussed in detail on Page 6 of this chapter. |
| Wann kommt der Zug in Kassel an? |
When does the train arrive in Kassel? |
| um elf Uhr dreizehn |
at 11:13 |