The base meaning of "gehören" is "to belong": to be in the proper/accustomed place, to fit, etc. etwas (Nom) gehört jemandem (Dat) = to own s.th., to posses s.th. jemand/etwas (Nom) gehört zu jemandem/etwas (Dat) = belongs to, is part of It is often the case that different verb patterns have different meanings or different shades of meaning, so you need to learn the whole pattern. zur = zu der Good dictionaries list verb patterns with their meaning, e.g. Pons: http://de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung?q=geh%C3%B6ren&l=deen&in=&lf=