How to learn German Prepositions

German Prepositions

Learn German Prepositions the Easy Way – Part 1

German Prepositions.

Have you tried communicating in English without prepositions? Next to impossible, isn’t it? German prepositions too play a vital role in building German sentences. A preposition is a word that connects a noun or pronoun to the sentence.

Not knowing which preposition to use can be quite frustrating. Learning German prepositions was a real struggle for us too, when we were beginners. You are at the right place if you are looking for an easier way to remember these prepositions!

German Prepositions

You might think that if you know which English preposition to use in a sentence, then you can simply translate it in German. Sadly, it’s not that easy. Let’s consider a sentence, both in English and German.

We should speak in German. Here, we have used the preposition ‘in’. The same sentence in German language will be- Wir sollen auf Deutsch sprechen. Here, we have used ‘auf’. The preposition ‘auf’ translates to ‘on’, ‘in’ or ‘at’ depending on the context.

As you can see, it is not possible to translate prepositions exactly every time. German prepositions are called as Präpositionen. They are more difficult because of the German case system. The 4 cases in German language are Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive.

A preposition is usually followed by either a noun or pronoun. German prepositions affect the case of the following noun or pronoun. This means, they help to determine the case of the object. You will know which case the object takes, just by looking at the preposition.

his lesson covers 3 types of prepositions- Accusative, Dative and Two-Way Prepositions.

German Prepositions | Prepositions of direction | nach, zu, in, auf, an | Richtungspräpositionen

German Prepositions in the Accusative

The nouns and pronouns following these prepositions will always be in the accusative case. Here’s a list of accusative prepositions for you to memorize:-

bis	up to, until, by, as far as
durch	through, by means of
entlang	along
für	for
gegen	against
ohne	without
um	at (time), around, about

Das Brot ist für mich. (The bread is for me.)
Heute spielt Indien gegen Australien . (India is playing against Australia today.)
Ich gehe durch den Wald. (I am walking through the forest.)
Wir rannten den Weg entlang. (We ran along the way.) This is a bit different case. The object of the sentence precedes the preposition “entlang“. However, if the preposition is used before the noun or pronoun (very rare), it becomes dative.

To avoid confusion, remember it this way- Entlang always follows the object. So, the object is in accusative case.

German Prepositions in the Dative

The nouns and pronouns following these prepositions will always be in the dative case. Here’s a list of dative prepositions for you to memorize:-

aus	from, out of
außer	except for
bei	at
gegenüber	opposite, across from
mit	with
nach	after, to, according to
seit	since, for (time)
von	from, of
zu	to

Ich arbeite seit drei Jahren . (I have been working for three years.)
Nach der Schule spielen wir Tennis. (After school we play tennis.)
Ich reise mit meinem Vater. (I am traveling with my father.)
Die Universität ist der Kirche gegenüber . / Die Universität ist gegenüber der Kirche. (The university is opposite to the church.) The preposition “gegenüber” either precedes or follows the noun.
Ich sitze dir gegenüber. (I am sitting opposite to you.) However, if a pronoun is used in a sentence, then the preposition always goes after the pronoun.

Two-way German Prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen)

The nouns and pronouns following these prepositions will either be in the accusative case or the dative case. How will you know which case to use? The answer is simple.

When any motion is involved, the preposition is in the accusative. In this case, we ask the question “wohin?” (where to?). When no motion is involved, the preposition is in the dative. In this case, we ask the question “wo?” (where?).

Here’s a list of two-way prepositions for you to memorize:-

an	at, on
auf	on
hinter	behind
in	in, into
neben	next to, beside
über	above, over, about (topic)
unter	below, under
vor	in front of, before
zwischen	between

Ich lege das Buch auf den Schrank . (I put the book on the cupboard.) Here, a movement is involved. The book was not on the cupboard before, I am putting it there. Hence, ‘auf’ is accusative.
Das Buch liegt auf dem Schrank. (The book is on the cupboard.) This sentence states the position of the book. It was already on the cupboard, there is no movement. Hence, ‘auf’ is dative.

Prepositional Contractions

Native German speakers normally combine the preposition and the following article together to form one word. It’s like English “can’t” and “don’t”. We rarely say “cannot” and “do not”.

Similarly, in German, we can combine in and das to form ins. Here’s a list of commonly used contractions:-

an + dem = am
an + das = ans
auf + das = aufs
in + dem = im
in + das = ins
bei + dem = beim
von + dem = vom
zu + dem = zum
zu + der = zur
für + das = fürs

Verbs with Prepositions

There are a lot of verbs in German that always take specific prepositions. It is really important to learn these verb-preposition combinations. Here’s a list of 15 common verbs for you:-

German	English
achten auf + Akk.	to pay attention to / watch out for
bitten um + Akk.	to ask / request for
denken an + Akk.	to think of / about
einladen zu + Dat.	to invite to
sich erinnern an + Akk.	to remember
fragen nach + Dat.	to inquire / ask for
sich freuen auf + Akk.	to look forward to
sich freuen über + Akk.	to be glad about
gehören zu + Dat.	to belong to
helfen bei + Dat.	to help / assist with
sich kümmern um + Akk.	to look after / take care of
schreiben an + Akk.	to write to
teilnehmen an + Dat.	to participate in
sich treffen mit + Dat.	to meet / catch up with
warten auf + Akk.	to wait for