When to use it
Use it at a hotel or in the street to ask for a recommendation for dinner.
“Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?” — The sentence in English
"Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?" uses "can" and the adjective "nearby" after the noun.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- find
- verbfind · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after a modal or after "help me"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- good
- adjectiveadjective
- restaurant
- nounnoun
- nearby
- adjectiveadjective placed after the noun
“Wo finde ich ein gutes Restaurant in der Nähe?” — The sentence in German
"Wo finde ich ein gutes Restaurant in der Nähe?" uses the simple present "finde" without "can". The adjective "gutes" gets the neuter ending, and "in der Nähe" ("in the nearness") means nearby.
- Wo
- adverbquestion word: "where"
- finde
- verbfinden · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: first · number: singular · "find"; German uses the plain present here, without "can"
- ich
- pronoun"I"
- ein
- determinerindefinite article, neuter: "a"
- gutes
- adjective"good", neuter ending -es after "ein"
- Restaurant
- nounneuter noun: "restaurant"
- in
- prepositionpreposition "in"
- der
- determinerdefinite article, feminine dative: "the"
- Nähe
- nounfeminine noun: "nearness"; "in der Nähe" = "nearby"
English × German: What changes from one language to the other
English needs "can"; German is happy with the plain present. English says "nearby" in one word; German uses a group of three: "in der Nähe".
Example conversation
— Wo finde ich ein gutes Restaurant in der Nähe?
— Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?
— Gleich um die Ecke gibt es ein sehr gutes.
— There's a very good one just around the corner.