der Wagen
car
A motor vehicle, especially a car, used to transport people or things.
EXAMPLE
Mein Wagen steht vor dem Haus.
My car is parked in front of the house.
der Wagen
car / wagon
der Wagen, die Wagen
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Meanings
der Wagen
wagon / cart
A wheeled vehicle used to transport people or loads, usually pulled by animals or people.
EXAMPLE
Der Bauer lud das Heu auf den Wagen.
The farmer loaded the hay onto the wagon.
der Wagen
train carriage
An individual part of a train in which passengers or goods are transported.
EXAMPLE
Bitte steigen Sie in den hinteren Wagen ein.
Please board the rear carriage.
Forms
Forms adapted from the German Wiktionary entry Wagen, by Wiktionary contributors, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
At a glance
| gender | masculine der |
|---|---|
| plural | die Wagen |
| genitive | des Wagens |
The four cases
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | der Wagen | die Wagen die Wägen |
| accusative | den Wagen | die Wagen die Wägen |
| dative | dem Wagen | den Wagen den Wägen |
| genitive | des Wagens | der Wagen der Wägen |
The article changes with the case; it is shown in colour.
Usage tips
Context clue
The meaning of „Wagen“ (car / wagon / train carriage) is often clear from the surrounding words: „Parkplatz“ (parking lot) and „Straße“ (street) indicate a car, „Pferde“ (horses) or „Landwirtschaft“ (farming) indicate a wagon, and „Bahnsteig“ (platform) or „Zug“ (train) indicate a train carriage.
EXAMPLE
Auf dem Parkplatz steht ein schwarzer Wagen.
There is a black car in the parking lot.
Die Pferde ziehen den Wagen über das Feld.
The horses are pulling the wagon across the field.
Auf dem Bahnsteig suchten wir den Wagen mit unseren reservierten Plätzen.
On the platform, we looked for the carriage with our reserved seats.
Typical collocations
In the meaning „Auto“ (car), „Wagen“ (car) often occurs with verbs and expressions related to driving and parking, such as „den Wagen parken“ (to park the car), „mit dem Wagen fahren“ (to drive the car), or „im Wagen sitzen“ (to sit in the car).
EXAMPLE
Sie parkte den Wagen direkt vor dem Eingang.
She parked the car right in front of the entrance.
Train carriage
When talking about a train, individual parts are often named according to their position or function: You can „in einen Wagen einsteigen“ (board a carriage), „in einem Wagen sitzen“ (sit in a carriage), or „aus einem Wagen aussteigen“ (get off a carriage).
EXAMPLE
Im letzten Wagen saßen nur wenige Fahrgäste.
Only a few passengers were sitting in the last carriage.
In real life
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