"Wir nehmen die Fähre über den Rhein."

Translation: We are taking the ferry across the Rhine.

[KeinFaschist]

Why not over the Rhine?

[A_Copeland]

Should be accepted, you can definitely (native English speaker) go "over" (meaning across) a river or other body of water.

[person243]

Well you cross a river, a lake, a sea, so you go across it. German uses "über" but preposition cannot always be translated as the same in every situation. The German verb for "to cross" is (for example)"überqueren".

I hope I could be of help.

[ZachWendling]

There is a neighborhood in Cincinnati called, "Over-the-Rhine."

[Joyce_B1]

(But it's actually just the "Mill Creek") ;)

[TylerMuell10]

In this case, it is perfectly fine to say over the over

[ThenWhatHappened]

Is the Rhein in particular masculine? Or are all rivers masculine even when individually named because the container term for river (der Fluss) is masculine?

[requin230]

No there are also female rivers e.g. "die Mosel"

[Rid113]

How would one say, " We are taking the ferry that crosses( goes over) the Rhein

[mike.jb.tyson]

Wir nehmen die Fähre, die über den Rhein fährt.

[dcounts]

Über den Rhein - "den" because of motion toward? "Um" is the accusative in "dogfu".

[Fang233345]

Why not "on the Rhein"?

[FabioEmer]

Did the word "ferry" come from the Deutsch "Fähre"?Does anybody know?

[Norwei-3rd-gen]

Not directly, but German and English share a common ancestor language which many words come from.

It traces back to a word that meant "to make or let go, transfer, ferry"

[FabioEmer]

Thanks Norwei-3rd-gen

[MistaWood]

Why is it accusative case with the Rhein and not dative?

[mike.jb.tyson]

Because the action is transitive. You changing states, going across the Rhein. Dativ would describe the static location of an object - for example, a bird hovering above the river: "Der Vogel schwebt über dem Rhein"

[leoagneau]

Can I use "durch" instead of "über"? I.e. "Wir nehmen die Fähre durch den Rhein."

[mike.jb.tyson]

It's simply not the correct preposition. To me, saying that you're going 'durch den Fluss' sounds like you're wading through the water, not traveling on top of it.

[nuHtyRLR]

Wir nehmen die Fähre den Rhein entlang

Could this work too?

[mike.jb.tyson]

No, that would mean taking the ferry along the river