When to use it
Use it at a hotel or a tourist office. Many German cities have bike-sharing stations.
“Where can I rent a bicycle in the city?” · The sentence in English
"Where can I rent a bicycle in the city?" has "where", then "can I", then "rent" and the object.
- 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
- rent
- verbrent · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- bicycle
- nounnoun; often shortened to "bike"
- in
- prepositionpreposition
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- city
- nounnoun
“Wo kann ich mir in der Stadt ein Fahrrad ausleihen?” · The sentence in German
"Wo kann ich mir in der Stadt ein Fahrrad ausleihen?" adds "mir" (for myself), which German often uses with borrowing verbs. "Ausleihen" goes to the end.
- Wo
- adverbquestion word: "where"
- kann
- auxiliary verbkönnen · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: first · number: singular · "can"
- ich
- pronoun"I"
- mir
- pronoundative reflexive: "for myself"
- in
- preposition"in"
- der
- determinerdefinite article, feminine dative: "the"
- Stadt
- nounfeminine noun: "city", "town"
- ein
- determinerindefinite article, neuter: "a"
- Fahrrad
- nounneuter compound noun: fahren (ride) + Rad (wheel), "bicycle"
- ausleihen
- verbausleihen · form: infinitive · "to borrow", "to rent"; separable verb
What changes from one language to the other · English × German
German adds "mir", which English does not need. The place "in der Stadt" comes in the middle in German and at the end in English.
Example conversation
— Wo kann ich mir in der Stadt ein Fahrrad ausleihen?
— Where can I rent a bicycle in the city?
— Am Bahnhof gibt es einen Fahrradverleih.
— There's a bike rental at the station.