Dra and gå - what's the difference?

First things first:

“Å dra” and “å gå” can both mean “to go”, but “å gå” can in addition mean “to walk”.

“To walk” is always translated with “å gå”, never “å dra”.

That being said, how do we know when to use “(å) gå” and when to use “(å) dra” when we want to say “(to) go”?

There are two important rules to remember. If you follow them, you can most likely choose freely in other cases.

First rule:

When “go” is followed by the preposition “til” or “fra” (“to” and “from” in English), you should use “dra”, or else people might think you are walking somewhere.

“Jeg drar til England.” (I go to England).

“Jeg går til England.” (I walk to England).

“Jeg går til butikken.” (I walk to the supermarket)

“Jeg drar til butikken.” (I go to the supermarket)

“Jeg går på butikken.” (I go to the supermarket)*

“Jeg drar på butikken".” (I go to the supermarket)

“Jeg går hjem.” (I go home)*

“Jeg drar hjem.” (I go home)

*Unless the word “går” is stressed when pronounced, it means to “go”.

Second rule:

If you talk about going somewhere located at the same location (in the same building, same propriety, etc.), you would need “å gå”, because you logically would need to walk to get there. You would not take the bike to the attic or the car to the other side of the garden, right?

In other words: in order to use “å dra”, you need to leave the location and enter a completely new one. And it would most likely be possible to use a means of transport other than your feet to get there, no matter if you actually walk or not.

Both “å gå” and “å dra” can also be used to say “to leave” a place.

Ha det, jeg går! (bye, I’m leaving)

Ha det, jeg drar! (bye, I’m leaving!)

The verb “å forlate” (to leave) can only be used with an object after it. You have to say what, which place or who you are leaving.

“Jeg forlater deg. Det er slutt.” = jeg går fra deg.

“Jeg forlater deg. Jeg tar ferie.” = jeg drar fra deg.

“Jeg forlater Bergen.” = jeg drar fra Bergen.

With “gå” and “dra” we would here differentiate between leaving physically (å dra fra) and figuratively when for instance you end a relationship (å gå fra).

Following this logic, the following sentence could have two meanings:

1. “Jeg går fra Bergen” = I walk from Bergen

2. “Jeg går fra Bergen” = I am ending my relationship with Bergen.

In my case, the last meaning is the most logical. I would never walk from Bergen to my new hometown, Oslo :)

Even more confused than before? For an easy start, it’s better to stick with “dra” to say “go” and only use “gå” to say “walk”.

Leave your questions in the comment field below, or test your understanding by writing me some sentences with “gå” and “dra”. I look forward to hearing from you :)

Vi snakkes!

Silje