Talking about walking as a hobby | Learn German in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ist Spazierengehen dein Hobby?

   Is walking your hobby?

   Ist

   is

   Spazierengehen

   walking; going for walks

   dein

   your

   Hobby

   hobby

   More detail

   Ist is the third-person singular present form of sein (“to be”). Here it appears at the beginning because German yes/no questions commonly place the finite verb before the subject: Ist ...? means “Is ...?” The subject is Spazierengehen, which is singular. Spazierengehen is a nominalized infinitive: the activity “going for walks” or “walking.” German capitalizes nominalized infinitives. The verb spazieren gehen means “to go for a walk”; as a noun, das Spazierengehen names the activity itself. The following sentence uses the related verbal expression spazieren gehen: Ich gehe ... spazieren. — “I go for walks ...” dein means “your” when addressing one person informally with du. Its form agrees with the noun it determines, not with the owner: dein Hobby uses the neuter singular form because das Hobby is neuter and is nominative here. Compare the reusable pattern dein + neuter singular noun: Ist das dein Buch? — “Is that your book?” Hobby means “hobby” or “leisure activity.” It is a neuter noun: das Hobby; its plural is die Hobbys. In this sentence, Hobby is the predicate noun after sein, identifying what Spazierengehen is. The whole question has the pattern Ist + subject + possessive determiner + noun? Literally, it asks whether the activity of going for walks is the listener’s hobby. Thus Ist Spazierengehen dein Hobby? means “Is walking your hobby?”

2. Ich gehe in meiner Freizeit gern spazieren.

   I like going for walks in my free time.

   Ich

   I

   gehe

   go

   Freizeit

   free time

   gern

   gladly; like to

   spazieren

   walk

   More detail

   Ich is the first-person singular pronoun: “I.” It identifies the speaker as the person who goes. For other subjects, German uses forms such as du “you” and sie “they/she,” depending on the referent and grammatical context. gehe is the present-tense first-person singular form of gehen, “to go.” The useful pattern is ich gehe; with another subject, the verb changes, for example du gehst “you go.” Here, gehe does not mean that the speaker is necessarily going somewhere specific; the following spazieren gives the activity. Freizeit means “free time” or “leisure time.” In in meiner Freizeit, meiner agrees with the feminine noun Freizeit after in in this time expression. The whole chunk means “in my free time.” Freizeit is a noun and is therefore capitalized in German. Example: In meiner Freizeit lese ich. — “In my free time, I read.” gern is an adverb meaning that the speaker enjoys the activity: with an activity verb, gern commonly corresponds to “like to.” It is not the adjective “happy” here. Compare Ich lese gern. — “I like reading.” The stronger comparative form lieber means “rather” or “preferably,” as in Ich gehe lieber spazieren. — “I would rather go for a walk.” spazieren is the infinitive “to walk” or “to go for a walk.” In the pattern spazieren gehen, German combines gehen with this infinitive to describe going for a walk. In the fixed sentence, the finite verb is gehe, while spazieren remains in the infinitive. Example: Wir gehen am Abend spazieren. — “We go for a walk in the evening.” Together, Ich gehe ... gern spazieren means “I like going for walks.” The inserted time expression in meiner Freizeit specifies when this activity takes place, so the complete utterance means “I like going for walks in my free time.”

3. Wo gehst du normalerweise hin?

   Where do you usually go?

   Wo … hin

   where to

   gehst

   go

   du

   you

   normalerweise

   usually

   More detail

   Wo ... hin asks about a destination: “where to?” German can use the two-part pattern Wo ... hin?, with hin adding the idea of movement toward a destination. The related one-word form wohin also means “where to?”; do not confuse it with wo alone, which asks about a location. Example: Wohin gehst du? — “Where are you going?” gehst is the present-tense form of gehen (“to go”) for du (“you”): gehen → du gehst. The present tense can describe going now or a usual action, depending on context. Example: Du gehst jeden Tag zur Arbeit. — “You go to work every day.” du is the informal singular subject pronoun “you.” It is the form used when addressing one person informally; its verb form here is gehst. The formal “you” is Sie, which takes gehen, not gehst. normalerweise means “usually” or “normally.” It modifies the action and signals a usual pattern rather than one specific occasion. Example: Normalerweise gehe ich zu Fuß. — “I usually walk.” Together, Wo gehst du normalerweise hin? asks one person informally which destination they usually go to: “Where do you usually go?” The question uses wo ... hin for the destination, gehst for “you go,” and normalerweise for the usual frequency.

4. Ich gehe im Park spazieren.

   I walk in the park.

   Ich

   I

   gehe

   go

   im

   in the

   Park

   park

   spazieren

   walk / stroll

   More detail

   Ich means “I” here: the speaker is the subject of the sentence. It is the first-person singular personal pronoun. Compare du (“you,” singular informal) in a question such as Gehst du heute spazieren? — “Are you going for a walk today?” gehe is the first-person singular present form of gehen (“to go”). The form changes with the subject: ich gehe, du gehst, er/sie geht. In this sentence, gehen is part of the reusable expression spazieren gehen, meaning “to go for a walk” or “to stroll”; it is not being used only in the general sense “go.” Example: Wir gehen am Abend spazieren. — “We go for a walk in the evening.” im is the contracted form of in dem, meaning “in the” in this context. in takes the dative when it describes a fixed location rather than movement into a place. Because Park is masculine singular, the phrase is in dem Park, normally shortened to im Park. For movement into a place, German commonly uses the accusative instead: Ich gehe in den Park. — “I go into the park.” Park is the masculine noun meaning “park.” Its basic form is der Park; after dative im, it remains Park, while the article shows the case: in dem Park. Example: Der Park ist groß. — “The park is large.” spazieren means “to walk” or “to stroll.” In spazieren gehen, it is the infinitive placed at the end because gehe is the finite verb in the main clause. The same pattern can be reused with other subjects: Sie geht im Park spazieren. — “She goes for a walk in the park.” Together, Ich gehe ... spazieren forms the first-person statement “I go for a walk,” and im Park specifies the fixed location. The complete utterance therefore means “I walk in the park” or, more naturally in English, “I go for a walk in the park.”

5. Ist die Strecke lang?

   Is the route long?

   Ist die

   Is the …?

   Strecke

   route

   lang

   long

   More detail

   Ist die places the finite verb before the subject in a German yes/no question. Here, ist is the present-tense form of sein for er/sie/es, and die Strecke is the subject. A reusable pattern is Ist die ...? — “Is the ...?” For example: Ist die Straße lang? — “Is the street long?” Strecke means a route, stretch, or course considered as a distance or path. The noun's base form is Strecke; die Strecke is its singular nominative form here. The plural is die Strecken. In this sentence, the intended meaning is a route whose length is being asked about. lang describes length: “long.” It is the base form of the adjective and has no ending here because it follows sein as a predicative adjective: Die Strecke ist lang. — “The route is long.” A useful opposite is kurz (“short”): Die Strecke ist kurz. — “The route is short.” Together, Ist die Strecke lang? forms a present-tense yes/no question: the verb-first order marks the question, die Strecke is the route being discussed, and lang asks whether its length is great. The complete meaning is “Is the route long?”

6. Das ist ein kurzer, leichter Spaziergang.

   It is a short, easy walk.

   Das ist

   It is / That is

   ein

   a/an

   kurzer

   short

   leichter

   easy

   Spaziergang

   walk

   More detail

   Das ist uses the demonstrative pronoun das as the subject and the present-tense form ist of sein (“to be”) for a singular subject. Together, this is a reusable way to identify or describe something: Das ist ... = “This/That is ...” or, as here, “It is ...”. ein is the indefinite article used here with the masculine singular noun Spaziergang in the nominative. It corresponds to “a/an”; by itself, it does not state a numerical count. kurzer means “short” here. Its base form is the adjective kurz; the ending -er marks the form used with a masculine singular nominative noun after ein: ein kurzer Spaziergang. Compare the uninflected form in a predicate: Der Spaziergang ist kurz (“The walk is short”). leichter means “easy” here. Its base form is leicht, and it has the same masculine singular nominative ending in ein leichter Spaziergang. In other contexts, leicht can also mean “light” in weight or intensity, but “easy” is the intended meaning here. Spaziergang is a masculine noun meaning “walk” or “stroll”; its plural is Spaziergänge. The compound noun is built from spazieren (“to walk/go for a walk”) and Gang (“walk” or “going”), but the complete noun should be learned as the word for a walk or stroll. The sentence follows the reusable pattern Das ist ein + adjective + adjective + noun: Das ist ein kurzer, leichter Spaziergang. The two adjectives both describe the walk, and their matching -er endings show the masculine singular nominative form after ein. The whole utterance therefore means “It is a short, easy walk.”

7. Das klingt entspannend.

   That sounds relaxing.

   Das

   that; it

   klingt

   sounds

   entspannend

   relaxing

   More detail

   Das means “that” or “it” here. German can use this form to refer to a previously mentioned thing, fact, or situation. The supplied context supports a connection with what was mentioned before, but it does not uniquely identify the exact referent, so the form should not be assigned a more specific one here. In this use, das is a demonstrative pronoun; its grammatical form is neuter singular and does not by itself identify the referent. klingt is the third-person singular present form of klingen (“to sound”). A useful pattern is etwas klingt + adjective: “something sounds + adjective.” For example, Das klingt gut. means “That sounds good.” Here klingen describes the impression something gives, rather than a literal sound. entspannend means “relaxing.” It describes something as having a relaxing effect or character. It is related to the verb entspannen (“to relax”). Do not confuse it with entspannt (“relaxed”), which describes a state that someone or something is in. For example, Der Spaziergang ist entspannend. means “The walk is relaxing,” while Ich bin entspannt. means “I am relaxed.” Together, Das + klingt + entspannend means “That sounds relaxing.” The sentence presents the previously discussed content as seeming relaxing to the speaker.

8. Wir können zusammen dorthin gehen.

   We can go there together.

   Wir können

   we can

   zusammen

   together

   dorthin

   there; to that place

   gehen

   go

   More detail

   Wir können means “we can” here. wir is the first-person plural pronoun, “we.” können is the present-tense form of können for wir; the same verb also means “to be able to” or “may,” but the fixed translation supports the ability/possibility meaning here. As a modal verb, it is followed by another verb in the infinitive, which appears at the end of this sentence. Example: Wir können warten. — “We can wait.” The modal können is conjugated, while warten remains an infinitive. zusammen means “together.” It describes the joint manner of the action: the people included by wir will go as a group. It is an adverb and does not change form for person or number. Example: Wir lernen zusammen. — “We study together.” dorthin means “to there” or “to that place.” It is a directional adverb: it points toward a destination rather than merely locating something at a place. dort means “there” as a location, while dorthin includes movement toward that location. Example: Sie fährt dorthin. — “She drives there.” The destination is expressed by dorthin; this example introduces a different subject only to demonstrate the reusable form. gehen means “to go” or “to walk.” Here it is the infinitive selected by the modal können, so it does not carry the person marking. Without the modal, the first-person plural present form would be wir gehen, “we go” or “we are going.” Example: Wir gehen nach Hause. — “We are going home.” Together, Wir können establishes that the group has the ability or possibility to act. zusammen says that the action is joint, dorthin identifies the destination as “there,” and gehen supplies the action in the infinitive required after the modal. The complete utterance therefore means: “We can go there together.”