# Ich gehe die Straße entlang.



## eno2

Hi,
Another basic sentence...
I have a problem in English (and in some other languages) with 'ich gehe die Strasse entlang'.
I suppose in English they say 'I walk down the street', and not 'I walk along the street'. Is that so? I'm not sure, because in the case of driving a car, one could say: The man drives along the street.(?)
In Dutch we use 'entlang''along' = langs....We wandelen langs de straat. 
But f.i. Spanish it says: Camino *por* la calle, and not: camino a lo largo de la calle.


----------



## bearded

Hi
You might find some useful elements regarding the use of 'entlang' in this old discussion:
entlang.
Concerning English usage, as well as differences from German, I hope that Engl. native experts (e.g. elroy) will satisfactorily reply to you.


----------



## eno2

Yes, it's useful. But complicated (for me). In this case I wasn't referred to this old thread when filling in the title. But It wouldn't have made a difference for my consultation.


----------



## elroy

eno2 said:


> I suppose in English they say 'I walk down the street', and not 'I walk along the street'. Is that so?


 Yes.


----------



## JClaudeK

eno2 said:


> I have a problem in English (and in some other languages) with 'ich gehe die Strasse entlang'.


Auf Französisch würde man sagen: "Je _descends_ la rue."  (auch wenn die Straße nicht abwärts führt)
Aber
"Ich gehe *am* Fluss entlang." = "Je _longe_ la rivière."


----------



## eno2

elroy said:


> Yes.


Thank you for the confirmation.



JClaudeK said:


> Auf Französisch würde man sagen: "Je _descends_ la rue."  (auch wenn die Straße nicht abwärts führt)



I would never have thought that. Je descends dans la rue, oui. But that's something else.
What about: ' Je marche dans la rue'?  I would think that's OK. But perhaps not quite the same as
Ich gehe die Straße entlang.


----------



## JClaudeK

eno2 said:


> I would never have thought that. Je descends dans la rue, oui. But that's something else.


But that's something else. 


eno2 said:


> ' Je marche dans la rue'? I would think that's OK. But perhaps not quite the same as
> Ich gehe die Straße entlang.


Depending on contexte, _'Je marche dans la rue'_ can have the meaning _'Ich gehe die Straße (ein Stück) entlang.' _


----------



## Brioche

You can walk up the street, or down the street or along the street.


----------



## eno2

So that's all without climbing/descending connotation too I suppose?


----------



## Scholiast

Greetings, all,

Without a wider context (or tones of voice to indicate emphasis and point) it's hard to answer this.

But in English, there's nothing wrong with 'I walk(ed) along the street'.

My impression is, however, that 'die Strasse entlang' implies a somewhat tedious or fruitless quest to find a particular place. With this emphasis modern English could say 'I walked the length of the street'.

Σ


----------



## eno2

Scholiast said:


> But in English, there's nothing wrong with 'I walk(ed) along the street'.


Ah. Elroy said otherwise.


----------



## elroy

I’m having trouble thinking of a real-world context in which I would say “I walked along the street.”  Perhaps Brioche and/or Scholiast can help. 

As for “up” vs. “down,” “up” works if there’s a very obvious incline and you’re going up.  Otherwise, for most streets, the default in American English is “down,” whether or not you’re *technically* going up or down.


----------



## bearded

elroy said:


> I’m having trouble thinking of a real-world context in which I would say “I walked along the street.”


I imagine a path running parallel to the street/road. In this case, would it be possible to say _I was walking on a path along the street_?
I'm asking because in German ''entlang der Straße/die Straße entlang'' can also mean ''parallel zur Straße'', if I'm not mistaken.


----------



## Frank78

Scholiast said:


> My impression is, however, that 'die Strasse entlang' implies a somewhat tedious or fruitless quest to find a particular place.



Not necessarily, it's pretty common if you give directions:

"Gehen/Fahren Sie die Goethestraße entlang und biegen Sie an der zweiten Kreuzung rechts ab."



bearded said:


> I'm asking because in German ''entlang der Straße/die Straße entlang'' can also mean ''parallel zur Straße'', if I'm not mistaken.



That's difficult, it might work for rivers but for roads it would be strange.


----------



## bearded

Frank78 said:


> for roads it would be strange


I was thinking of a sentence like _Gehen Sie diesen Pfad entlang der Hauptstraße/die Hauptstraße entlang hinunter. _Here 'entlang' could mean ''parallel zu'', and I wonder if in a similar English construction the word 'along' can be used.


----------



## Scholiast

Greetings all


eno2 said:


> Ah. Elroy said otherwise.


I'm sorry my previous postings here were by moderatorial standards not up to the mark in courtesy or propriety.
May I make amends by suggesting:
'I walked/went the length of the street'; or
'I walked all the way along the street'.
ʼentlang' feels to me a little as if it implicates entirety, 'all the way along' the street. But of course I stand open to correction.
Σ


----------



## radagasty

bearded said:


> I was thinking of a sentence like _Gehen Sie diesen Pfad entlang der Hauptstraße/die Hauptstraße entlang hinunter. _Here 'entlang' could mean ''parallel zu'', and I wonder if in a similar English construction the word 'along' can be used.



No, you couldn't use _along_ in the case of two roads running parallel to one another. I would say, 'Go down this lane parallel to the high street.' or something similar. In other words, _along_ doesn't mean 'parallel to' _sensu stricto_. On the other hand, this would work for a river, e.g., 'Go down this path along(side) the river.'


----------



## Frank78

bearded said:


> I was thinking of a sentence like _Gehen Sie diesen Pfad entlang der Hauptstraße/die Hauptstraße entlang hinunter. _Here 'entlang' could mean ''parallel zu'', and I wonder if in a similar English construction the word 'along' can be used.



It could work like that:

"Folgen Sie dem Pfad, der entlang der Hauptstraße führt/geht."


----------



## elroy

My original "yes" seems to have been too laconic and not well thought-out.  My apologies.  Let me try to elaborate:

1. If we consider *usage*, what people actually _say_ the vast majority of the time in American English is "I walked down the street."  Note that eno said _I suppose in English *they say* 'I walk down the street', and not 'I walk along the street'_.  As I said before, this is used even if you're not technically going down.  The only time "up" would be used (and "down" would not work) is if the street were on a steep incline, like in San Francisco for example.  Then you would say "I walked up the street."  Otherwise, if you're clearly going down *or* the street is/seems flat, you say "down" (even if the street is not actually 100% flat).  In other words, it's all about how the street _feels/looks_.

2. I would say, for example, "I walked along the coast" or "There are many nice restaurants along the street."  So there is something about the specific combination of "walked" and "street" that makes "down" the obvious choice for me.  Maybe because "street walking" is such a common everyday activity that gets talked about a lot, "walking down the street" (which, as discussed above, is probably not technically accurate half the time!) has established itself as a fixed expression.

3. There is something about "along" that I think gives it a more evocative ring than "down."  Since walking down the street is such a mundane everyday activity, "along" just seems somewhat too "colorful," like something out of a novel.  This is mostly a nuance, though, and I think the major reason for my rejection of "along" is usage, as discussed above. 

4. For a path parallel to a street, I would not use "along."  I might say "I was walking down a path _running parallel to_ the street" (cf. #17).


----------



## Schlabberlatz

JClaudeK said:


> Auf Französisch würde man sagen: "Je _descends_ la rue." (auch wenn die Straße nicht abwärts führt)


Gut zu wissen, danke! Ich habe im Grand Robert nachgeschaut (hab ich auf CD-ROM), da stehts nicht drin, aber auf larousse.fr findet man es:


> [along]   le long de
> he walked down the street   il a descendu la rue
> Traduction : down - Dictionnaire anglais-français Larousse


Vielleicht hat da die eine Sprache die andere beeinflusst?

Auch im Deutschen gibt es etwas Vergleichbares:


> die Straße hinunter _(die Straße entlang) _begegnete ihnen niemand
> Duden | hinunter | Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Synonyme, Herkunft


Ich glaube, man könnte auch sagen „Er ging die Straße hinunter“, auch wenn das wohl etwas unüblich ist.

Bei ›die Straße entlang‹ würde ich ohne weiteren Kontext davon ausgehen, dass man auf dem Bürgersteig geht und nicht auf der Straße. Wobei … eigentlich gehört der Bürgersteig mit zur Straße … wie auch die Häuser:
Er wohnt in der Goethestraße.
Manches ist komplizierter, als es auf den ersten Blick aussieht.


----------



## elroy

Schlabberlatz said:


> eigentlich gehört der Bürgersteig mit zur Straße


 Yes, in English, too, when you say “I was walking down the street,” the assumption is that you were walking on the sidewalk.


----------



## In-Su

Schlabberlatz said:


> Gut zu wissen, danke! Ich habe im Grand Robert nachgeschaut (hab ich auf CD-ROM), da stehts nicht drin, aber auf larousse.fr findet man es:


I would consider _descendre_ a regionalism. More standard is _traverser_.


----------



## Schlabberlatz

JClaudeK said:


> Auf Französisch würde man sagen: "Je _descends_ la rue." (auch wenn die Straße nicht abwärts führt)
> Aber
> "Ich gehe *am* Fluss entlang." = "Je _longe_ la rivière."





In-Su said:


> I would consider _descendre_ a regionalism. More standard is _traverser_.





eno2 said:


> I have a problem in English (and in some other languages) with 'ich gehe die Strasse entlang'.


Thanks a lot, In-Su!  I hope the discussion about French is not off-topic. Eno2 can tell us whether he is interested in the French translation. It seems to me he is interested (cf. #6). I would have thought that "traverser une rue" means "to cross a street", cf. traverser | Französisch » Deutsch | PONS . Maybe there are some other speakers of French who could tell us their opinions? @denebe @Kwistax @lukaa18


----------



## JClaudeK

In-Su said:


> I would consider _descendre_ a regionalism. More standard is _traverser_.


 "traverser" # "entlanggehen/ entlang gehen
traverser = über die Straße gehen


----------



## In-Su

JClaudeK said:


> "traverser" = "entlanggehen/ entlang gehen
> traverser = über die Straße gehen


----------



## Frieder

JClaudeK said:


> "traverser" # "entlanggehen/ entlang gehen


Ich glaube, JCK meinte "traverser" *≠* "entlanggehen/ entlang gehen"
Ich würde (genau wie Langenscheidt, pons und leo)_ traverser _auch als _überqueren _übersetzen.


----------



## bearded

In-Su: Attention, malentendu /Achtung Missverstaendnis
Frieder hat Recht:
JCK a écrit que 'traverser' n'a rien à voir avec 'entlanggehen' / 'traverser' hat mit 'entlanggehen' nichts zu tun.


----------



## Schlabberlatz

Ich habe im Französisch-Forum noch mal nachgefragt. ‹ descendre › wird da nicht als Regionalismus eingestuft, und ‹ traverser › kennt da niemand im Sinne von ›entlang gehen‹:
descendre la rue
@In-Su : Hast du ›entlang gehen‹ vielleicht missverstanden?


----------

