Please help me make sense of this

Kannst du mich mit nach Hause nehmen? (can you give me a lift home)

This sentence to me literally is  "Can you me with to house take"...Now how do they get "Can you give me a lift home? out of that?

 

Hi Grant

'nach Hause' is a set expression meaning home, in this case the speakers home. Adjusting the confusing German word order that simplifies the translation to something like ' Can you take me with you to my home' which is a credible way of asking for a lift.

It is a 'feature' of German (and probably most other languages) that there are lots of set phrases where the actual meaning is different to what the words appear to say. Certainly confuses the hell out of me!

Sorry Grant. Forgot to mention that there is an implied movement towards home in the expression 'nach Hause'. This is different from 'zu Hause' which means at home.

We really do need the edit buttons back for these messages!

Hey thanks Fred for the explanation. Yes, we do need those edit buttons back

Doh! It appears we have them now