to ride along
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to ride along
To travel together with another person in their vehicle (e.g., car, train, bicycle) without driving yourself; to use a ride-sharing opportunity.
Wenn du zum Bahnhof musst, kannst du bei mir mitfahren.
If you need to go to the train station, you can ride along with me.
'Mitfahren' (to ride along) is a separable verb. The prefix 'mit-' comes at the end of the main clause. In subordinate clauses and in the infinitive with 'zu', the verb stays together.
Ich fahre heute Abend bei meinen Eltern mit.
I'm riding along with my parents this evening.
The perfect tense of 'mitfahren' (to ride along) is always formed with the auxiliary verb 'sein' because it describes movement from one place to another. A common source of mistakes is using 'haben'.
Gestern bin ich mit einer Kollegin zur Arbeit mitgefahren.
Yesterday I rode to work with a colleague.
To express with whom you are riding along, the preposition 'bei' is used with the dative. So the construction is: bei jemandem mitfahren (to ride along with someone).
Kann ich heute Nachmittag bei dir mitfahren?
Can I ride along with you this afternoon?
to drive / ride
'fahren' and 'mitfahren' both have to do with a trip or movement in a vehicle. 'fahren' is more general: you can drive yourself, travel as a passenger, or simply get somewhere by vehicle. 'mitfahren' means more specifically that you travel together with someone else in their vehicle and are not driving yourself. The words can be confused because they occur in similar situations. If only the trip is important, 'fahren' is enough. If you want to say that someone is giving you a ride, 'mitfahren' is more precise.
Nach dem Training darf ich bei meiner Nachbarin mitfahren.
After training, I’m allowed to ride along with my neighbor.
Morgen fährt Tom mit dem Zug nach Hamburg.
Tom is taking the train to Hamburg tomorrow.