This is a very basic question but maybe I just don't know how to phrase my query well enough to find an answer. Let me begin with a SVN example. SVN doesn't have a "current branch" as a property of a working copy, so I'll give the example with revisions instead. Consider a working copy with the dirs `foo` and `bar` in it. In SVN one can `update` foo to an earlier version, but keep `bar` at `HEAD`. Is it possible in an analogical git working copy to checkout one branch in dir `foo` without changing the branch checked out in `bar`? If not, why not? TIA, Stefan Monov