# Rennen naar/aan



## Tamar

I was doing an exercise and wanted to say "wie rent naar de trein?"
And all of a sudden thought of "rennen aan".
Rennen naar would be "to run to..." but what is "rennen aan"?
Does it mean "to run on/in.." 
For example:"ik ren aan het strand" is "I'm running on the beach"? 
If I say "ik ren aan de trein?" would it mean I'm running around in the train?  (sounds funny).


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## Kayla321

_Rennen aan_ bestaat volgens mij gewoon niet.


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## ThomasK

inderdaad, maar 'rennen naar' ??? Ik zou zeggen: 'rennen om de trein nog te halen' _(want bedoel je toch, niet, Tamar?)_ en 'rennen voor je leven'. 

Ik think the 'aan' is often an equivalent of the English 'at', though the same 'at' can be translated as 'op' (op kantoor, op het werk, op school). I don't think one can express direction with it.


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## Funambule

Tamar said:


> I was doing an exercise and wanted to say "wie rent naar de trein?"
> And all of a sudden thought of "rennen aan".
> Rennen naar would be "to run to..." but what is "rennen aan"?
> Does it mean "to run on/in.."
> For example:"ik ren aan het strand" is "I'm running on the beach"?
> If I say "ik ren aan de trein?" would it mean I'm running around in the train? (sounds funny).


 
I'm running on the beach = Ik ren op het strand

When you say 'Ik ren aan het strand' you're not running 'on it' but 'by it', but Dutch people would prefer 'ik ren langs het strand' ('along') to 'ik ren aan het strand'. Expressions like 'aan het strand', 'aan zee', 'aan de haven' are perfectly possible with a verb like 'live', not with verbs of movement (you would then use 'langs' / 'along').

'Ik ren aan de trein' makes no sense. 'Ik ren naar de trein' does (I'm running towards the train) as does 'Ik ren langs de trein' (I'm running along the train). However, if you intend to say 'I'm running to catch the train' you say 'Ik ren om de trein te halen' in Dutch.

Greetings,

Fun.


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## petoe

You could consider 'Aan het strand' as a fixed expression.
It could mean 'along the beach' or 'on the beach', but in that case I think it's more clear to say 'Op het strand'.
'Een wandeling aan het strand' is (voor mij) ook echt op het strand.
'Een huis aan het strand' is dan eerder net naast of aan de rand van het strand.


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## Tamar

> rennen om de trein nog te halen


Exactly I meant, thanks Thomas. Hahaha, in Hebrew when you say you "run to the trien" it implies you're trying to catch it... 

"Aan" is so much clearer now 

Thanks guys.


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## ThomasK

Just a minor mistake: _trein_, not _trien_... But in fact you can run after _een trien_ as well, or after Trien. In both cases you are running after some girl (trien does have a negative connotation), or a very specific girl, Trien (nickname of Katrien). Did you mean that ? ;-)


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## Tamar

> you are running after some girl (trien does have a negative connotation)


What do you mean? In what way is negative?

Of course I meant trein, I just typed it wrong (hahaha, now too, I had to type several times...)


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## ThomasK

No problem, you know, I liked the mistake !


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## Kayla321

_Trien _is used for a girl/woman you don't like very much: _Die stomme trien heeft mijn fiets gemold._


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## Tamar

Hahaha, made a mistake and learned something new and valuable


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