When to use it
Use it in the street to ask where you can catch the bus. Saying "Entschuldigung" first sounds polite.
“Where is the bus stop?” · The sentence in English
"Where is the bus stop?" is a question about place. "Where" opens it, the verb "is" follows, and "the bus stop" is the subject, a compound of two separate words.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- is
- verbbe · tense: present · person: third · number: singular · form of "to be"; here it says where something is
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- bus
- nounnoun; it says what kind of stop
- stop
- nounnoun; the main word of "bus stop"
“Wo ist die Bushaltestelle?” · The sentence in German
"Wo ist die Bushaltestelle?" has the same order: question word, verb, subject. "Bushaltestelle" is one long word made of "Bus" and "Haltestelle", and like every German noun it starts with a capital letter. The article "die" shows that it is feminine.
- Wo
- adverbquestion word for place: "where"
- ist
- verbsein · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: third · number: singular · "is"; German uses "sein" for where something is
- die
- determinerdefinite article, feminine singular: "the"
- Bushaltestelle
- nounfeminine compound noun: Bus + Haltestelle, "bus stop"; German nouns always start with a capital letter
What changes from one language to the other · English × German
German writes compound nouns as one word, where English keeps "bus" and "stop" apart. German also marks gender in the article (der, die, das); English has only "the". The word order of this question is the same in both languages.
Example conversation
— Entschuldigung, wo ist die Bushaltestelle?
— Excuse me, where is the bus stop?
— Gleich da drüben, auf der anderen Straßenseite.
— Right over there, on the other side of the street.