commuter
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commuter
A person who regularly travels back and forth between their place of residence and their place of work or training.
Als Pendler verbringt er jeden Tag fast zwei Stunden im Zug.
As a commuter, he spends almost two hours on the train every day.
'Der Pendler' (the commuter) is derived from the verb 'pendeln' (to commute). This describes a regular back-and-forth movement, like the pendulum of a clock. So a 'Pendler' (commuter) regularly moves back and forth between two places.
Viele Menschen pendeln täglich zur Arbeit in die nächste Großstadt.
Many people commute daily to work in the nearest big city.
To describe a commuter's route, the preposition 'zwischen' (between) is often used with two places. The structure is then: 'Pendler zwischen [place A] und [place B]' (commuter between [place A] and [place B]).
Sie ist Pendlerin zwischen Köln und Düsseldorf.
She is a commuter between Cologne and Düsseldorf.
The word is often used in the context of traffic and time. Typical expressions are 'als Pendler unterwegs sein' (to be on the road as a commuter) or 'im Pendlerverkehr im Stau stehen' (to be stuck in commuter traffic).
Für viele Pendler beginnt der Tag sehr früh am Bahnhof.
For many commuters, the day starts very early at the train station.
cross-border commuter / boundary-crosser
Both Pendler and Grenzgänger travel to work regularly. Pendler generally refers to a person with a regular commute, while Grenzgänger additionally works in another country and crosses the national border to do so. For a cross-border commute, Grenzgänger is therefore more precise.
Als Pendler fährt Leon jeden Morgen von Potsdam zu seinem Arbeitsplatz in Berlin.
As a commuter, Leon travels from Potsdam to his workplace in Berlin every morning.
Als Grenzgänger fährt Leon jeden Morgen von Deutschland zu seinem Arbeitsplatz in der Schweiz.
As a cross-border commuter, Leon travels from Germany to his workplace in Switzerland every morning.
