Prepositions in German grammar about usage. German prepositions (general information). Combining prepositions with cases
German prepositions of place (NPM) are representatives of the official parts of speech. Their task is to link words in sentences. Being connecting elements, they govern different cases. NPM are one of the largest groups of prepositions in German. In addition to them, there are also abstract ones - NPAs that express abstract connections.
| Pretext | Question | Controlled case | Example with translation |
| bis | where? | accusative | bis München – to Munich |
| durch | where? | AT | durch den Tunnel - through the tunnel |
| gegen | where? | AT | gegen den Hunger - against hunger |
| um | where? | AT | um die Burg - around the castle |
| an…entlang | where? | AT | an das Flüsschen entlang - along the river |
| um…herum | where? | AT | um die Garage herum - around the garage |
| nach | where? | dative | nach Italien - to Italy |
| zu | where? | D | zu der Festung - to the fortress |
| ab | where? | D | die Lieferung ab Werk - delivery from the factory |
| bei | where? | D | bei der Tante - at the aunt's |
| gegenüber | where? | D | gegenüber der Schwimmhalle - in front of the pool |
| aus | where? | D | aus der Hauptstadt - from the capital |
| von | where? | D | von dem linken Ufer - from the left bank |
| innerhalb | where? | genitive | innerhalb der Berliner Mauer - inside the Berlin Wall |
| ausserhalb | where? | genitive | außerhalb der Siedlung - outside the village |
There are NPMs whose management may vary. To determine the case in a particular case will help, first of all, the questions “where? / where?" - dative / accusative and the study of material about the features of the management of individual NPMs.
| Pretext | Question | Controlled case | Example with translation |
| an | where? | AT | an die Haustür - to the front door |
| an | where? | D | an der Haustür - near the front door |
| auf | where? | AT | auf den Sessel - on an armchair |
| auf | where? | D | auf dem Sessel - on an armchair |
| hinter | where? | AT | hinter das Auto - per car |
| hinter | where? | D | hinter dem Auto - behind the car |
| in | where? | AT | in die Bibliothek - to the library |
| in | where? | D | in der Bibliothek - in the library |
| neben | where? | AT | neben den Kuchentisch - next to kitchen table(moving in direction) |
| neben | where? | D | neben dem Küchentisch - next to the kitchen table |
| unter | where? | AT | unter das Regal - under the shelf |
| unter | where? | D | unter dem Regal - under the shelf |
| uber | where? | AT | über das Fenster - (in direction) above the window |
| uber | where? | D | über dem Fenster - above the window |
| vor | where? | AT | vor die Treppe - (in direction) in front of the stairs |
| vor | where? | D | vor der Treppe - in front of the stairs |
| zwischen | where? | AT | zwischen die Zeitschriften - (in direction) between magazines |
| zwischen | where? | D | zwischen den Zeitschriften - between magazines |
Some NPMs are not quite conventional in their management. For example, "gegenüber" can come after or before a noun, but when used with a pronoun it will always take place after it:
- Unser Hotel liegt dem Dom gegenüber. = Unser Hotel liegt gegenüber dem Dom. Our hotel is located opposite the cathedral.
- Unser Hotel liegt ihm gegenüber. Our hotel is located opposite it.
Of particular note is the "entlang" NPM, which can manage three cases in different situations:
- Wir bummelten den Kai entlang. - We wandered along the embankment (accusative).
- Der Strand wurde entlang dem Kai eingerichtet. – The beach was equipped along the embankment (dative).
- Der Strand wurde entlang des Kais eingerichtet. – The beach was equipped along the promenade (parental).
The NPMs that set the direction are presented in the table below.
| Pretext | Control | Example with translation | Note |
| bis | accusative | Dieser Bus fährt bis Adler. – This bus goes to Adler. Dieser Bus fährt bis zum Bahnhof. This bus goes to the station. | If this NPM is used with a noun before which there is an article, then “zu” is added to it. |
| durch | accusative | Ich kann durch die Wände nicht sehen. “I can't see through walls. | Indicates movement through or through something. |
| entlang | genitive dative accusative |
Ein paar Minuten lang gingen sie den hohen Zaun entlang. For several minutes they walked along the high fence. | Characterizes movement or location parallel to something (see examples above). |
| gegen | accusative | Peter hat gegen einen Felsen angesegelt. - Peter came across a rock (while sailing on a ship). | Characterizes movement, the result of which is contact with something. |
| um | accusative | Sie ritten um die Festung. They rode horses around the fortress. | Describes movement around something. |
| nach | dative | Die Touristen fahren nach Bergen. – Tourists go to (city) Bergen. Die Touristen fliegen nach Norwegen. Tourists fly to (country) Norway. | Geographical objects of the middle gender (countries, settlements, etc.) are after this NPM without articles. |
| zu | dative | Heute wandern wir zum Bergdorf. Today we will go on a hike to a mountain village. | Indicates movement towards a goal. |
| an | accusative | Olga fährt wieder an den Nordsee. Olga is going to the North Sea again. Stelle die Leiter an die Wand im Flur! - Put the ladder against the wall in the hallway! | Indicates movement towards a vertical surface, a trip to a reservoir. |
| auf | accusative | Auf die Post gehe ich heute nicht, ich fahre auf die Datscha. - I won’t go to the post office today, I’m going to the dacha. Diesmal fliegt er auf Sizilien. This time he is flying to Sicily. | Indicates movement to regions and islands, institutions, etc. |
| in | accusative | Petra geht in die Sportschule sehr gern. – Petra goes to sports school very willingly. Klaus flog gestern in die Schweiz. – Klaus flew to Switzerland yesterday. Sie sind ins Restaurant gegangen. - They went to a restaurant. | Indicates visits to institutions, countries, regions, trips to mountains, moving in and out of buildings and premises. |
NPMs that indicate a location anywhere are listed in the following table.
| Pretext | Control | Example with translation | Note |
| an…entlang | dative | Am Fluß entlang gibt es viele Felder. There are many fields along the river. | Indicates a location along something, parallel to something. |
| an | dative | Ihr findet uns an der Brücke. – You will find us at the bridge. Monika hat sich wieder am Roten Meer erholt. Monica was vacationing on the Red Sea again. | Indicates stay, being on some kind of reservoir, in an institution, near something, etc. |
| ab | dative | Ab Düsseldorf fuhr sie mit einem Schnellzug weiter. – From Düsseldorf, she went on a fast train. | Indicates the point of departure. |
| bei | dative | Dieses Dorf lag bei Hamburg. – This village was located near Hamburg. Klaus ist bei seiner Cousine gewesen. – Klaus was with his cousin.Wer arbeitet bei Karstadt? – Who works in Karstadt? | Indicates the presence or location near something, at something, near something. |
| um | accusative | Unsere Kinder wollten um den geschmückten Tannenbaum tanzen. Our children wanted to dance around the decorated Christmas tree. | Mismatch with Russian management. |
| gegenüber | dative | Das Ehepaar saß uns gegenüber. A married couple was sitting across from us. | See above for the specifics of using this NPM. |
| von… aus | dative | Von der Aussichtsplattform aus kann man die ganze Stadt sehen. - From the observation platform you can see the whole city. | Contains an indication of the starting point, the beginning of something. |
| ausserhalb | genitive | Der Parkplatz ist ausserhalb des Bauplatzes. – Parking is located outside the construction site. | Indicates being outside of some limited space. |
| innerhalb | genitive | Der Parkplatz befindet sich innerhalb des Baugeländes. – Parking is located on the territory of the construction site. | Indicates being in the territory, within, within something. |
| auf | dative | Olga hat den Koffer auf dem Bahnhof vergessen. Olga forgot her suitcase at the station. | Indicates stay in regions, islands, institutions, etc. |
| in | dative | Petra hat drei Monate im Iran gearbeitet. – Petra worked in Iran for three months. Sie ist in der Vorlesung eingeschlafen. – She fell asleep at the lecture. Im Ferienheim bleiben wir zehn Tage. We will stay at the rest house for ten days. | Indicates being in different institutions, buildings, in enclosed spaces, regions, countries of the female gender. |
NPMs indicating movement from somewhere.
Prepositions in German have the same purpose as in Russian. They help unite words or phrases into a single semantic unit, that is, into a sentence. Prepositions in German are usually placed before the object to which they are directly related.
Classification
The use of prepositions in relation to cases
It is interesting that for some prepositions one of the existing cases is necessarily constant. The second one can be found only in some cases. It's better to show everything good example. Let's say this sentence: Trotz dem Schneefall (Dativ) wollte Mark mit dem Auto in die Berge fahren. It translates as follows: "Despite the snowfall, Mark wanted to go by car to the mountains." This sentence clearly shows the use of the dative case. And this, it must be said, is quite rare in German, or rather, in colloquial speech. What can be said about other cases? for example, it is used in rare cases of control with the preposition des (“in”), in sentences where this occurs, des comes after the noun.
Nominativ and Akkusativ
There are also such prepositions with which it is not necessary to use objects in any strictly defined case. To be more specific, these are als and wie. The nouns that come after these prepositions are declined in the same way as the members of the sentence that correspond to them. This can be seen in the following example: Mario kannte ihren Schwester als Schüler (this is Nominativ). This sentence is translated as follows: “Mario knew her sister as a schoolgirl.” In another way, using Akkusativ, the phrase can be constructed as follows: Mario kannte ihren schwester als Schüler. It translates almost the same: "Mario knew her sister, even when she was a schoolgirl." Both examples are directly related to each other. But in the first case, the subject is correlated with the noun after als” (respectively, it is Nominativ that should be used), but in the second, Akkusativ is used, since there is an addition. In general, the prepositions of control in German are not difficult, the main thing here is to learn the purpose of the cases and the translation of the words themselves.
Universal application of prepositions
This is a rather interesting topic, and you should also know it in order to be able to correctly express your thoughts. If you want, for example, to say: “I'm going to Germany,” then it would be correct to use nach here. This preposition indicates a direction, and in this case the sentence would look like this: Ich fahre nach Deutschland. By the way, nach is used in relation to countries that do not have. These are neuter states, such as Russia, Italy, Germany, France, etc. This preposition is also used if you need to answer the question of what time it is now . For example: zwanzig Minuten nach fünf (twenty past five). Only in this case the preposition is translated as “after” (if literally). I would also like to pay special attention to the frequently encountered Für. Usually used in relation to someone. Für dich, Für mich, Für alle da (for you, for me, for everyone), etc. That is, it indicates the purpose, purpose, addressee. But often this preposition is used as a substitute for the meaning "for someone." For example: Sie hat schon für mich bezahlt (she already paid for me).
What are the suggestions
Finally, I would like to list all the existing prepositions in the German language. The table in which they are most often presented is not very large, and remembering everything is much easier than it seems. People who study this language memorize them by comparison. An - translates as "above" or "on", depending on the use of the case. Auf locates a person, object, or even phenomenon: Alles was auf der Bühnepassiert, ist Wahnsinn (translation: “Everything that happens on the stage is madness”). Hinter is a translation of our preposition “for”, and the German in is the absolute analogy of the same word in English language. That is, it is translated as “in”: Ich bin jetzt in der Kneipe (translation: “I am in the pub now”). There are also prepositions über (through, over) and vor (before, before, before).
As a matter of fact, these and the previously listed prepositions are the most used and frequently encountered in the German language. This topic is not as difficult as, for example, the use of verbs. Prepositions in German have the same meaning and translation as in Russian, and this determines the relative ease of mastering them. And if you practice their use, then very soon the result will be visible, and the person will no longer hesitate to competently build a sentence.
In the country German grammar there was a city called "German Prepositions". It is not difficult to guess that they lived there - prepositions. The inhabitants were different there… They were called: an, in, auf, bis, ohne, von, zu, trotz, gegen, nach, wegen, seit, hinter, während… You can’t remember them all at once. But you will get to know them as the story progresses.
Chapter 1: German prepositions and important corporations in their city
In the country of German pretexts, there were three large corporations - on which residents worked. These corporations were called: Dativ, Genetiv, Akkusativ.
Genetiv was considered the most prestigious. Although there were rumors - that she had lost her position and no one uses the forms produced there. But it's all gossip!
The prepositions working there were proud of the fact that they had little work - but the importance was not diminished. Well, what work of art or official document does without pretexts that work on the Genitive? There are no such things! They even considered themselves almost nobles, and said that they came from royal families. They did not like it when they were used in conversations, they only liked written German.
These prepositions, for example, occupied a special place in the corporation, since they worked only for the genitive:
abseits - aside, angesichts - in view, anhand - with help, anlässlich - on the occasion, anstelle - instead, aufgrund - because of, außerhalb - outside / outside, bezüglich - relatively / regarding, diesseits - on the other side, halber - for the sake of / because of, hinsichtlich - regarding, infolge - as a result, innerhalb - within, jenseits - on the other side, kraft - by virtue / by right, längs - along, mithilfe - with the help, oberhalb - over / over / over, um…willen – for the sake of, ungeachtet – besides/regardless of, unterhalb – under/below, zugunsten – in favor, zuungunsten – not in favor.
YES!!! WHAT IN THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IS AN ADVERB OR A WHOLE PHRASE - IN GERMAN CAN ONLY BE A PREPOSITION.
The following prepositions were considered genetic - officially, but sometimes worked on a dative. Mostly in colloquial speech.
abzüglich - minus, ausschließlich - except, binnen - inside / in / during, dank - thanks, einschließlich - inclusive, exklusive - excluding, inklusive - including, laut - according to, mangels, mittels -, (an) statt - instead of , trotz - in spite of, während - during, wegen - because of, zuzüglich - counting.
Look, it's the same work, but the genitive works in writing, and the dative works in conversation.
Wir sind Wegen des Sturms abgefahren.
Wir sind wegen dem Sturm abgefahren.
Translation: We left because of the storm.
It can be said that these prepositions were cunning and in colloquial speech they added to themselves the form of the article, shamelessly taken in the corporation called Dative. So that no one decides that the great Genitive Corporation is doing such a dirty job as “participating in colloquial speech”.
German prepositions that work in the corporation "Akkuzativ"
In Accusative, these prepositions worked in the sweat of their brows: bis, um, fur, durch, ohne, gegen.
fur - for
Sie demonstrieren fur den Frieden. “They are for peace.
durch - through, by, on
Sie wanderten stundenlang durch den bayrischen Wald. They spent hours walking through the Bavarian forest.
Ohne
Einen Kaffee ohne Zucker und Sahne, bitte. – Coffee without sugar and cream, please.
um - around, in (when indicating time)
Die Katze ist um das Haus geschlichen.— The cat was sneaking around the house.
gegen - against, on, in relation to, about (about time)
Ich bin gegen diese Reise. I am against this trip.
Er ist unfreundlich gegen mich. He is unfriendly towards me.
bis - up to
Wir fahren nur bis Hamburg. We only go as far as Hamburg.
German prepositions working in the Dative Corporation
The following prepositions worked in the Dative Corporation: Außer, ab, bei, seit, mit, nach, gegenüber, aus, von, zu.
mit - with
Alexander spielt mit der Katze. Alexander is playing with a cat.
nach - after, in, after
Ich fahre nach Italian. - I'm going to Italy.
aus - from, with
Sie nimmt Geld aus der Kasse. She takes money from the cash register.
zu - to, on, before, by
Wir fahren zu Oma und Opa. We are going to visit grandma and grandpa.
von - from, from, from
Er kommt müde von der Arbeit. He comes tired from work.
bei - at (someone), during, at, near (local proximity), at
Bei schlechtem Wetter fallt die Wanderung aus.– If the weather is bad, the trip will be cancelled.
seit - from (any time to the present)
Seit einem Monat ist er kaum zu Hause. He has rarely been at home for the last month.
außer - except
Alle außer Tina waren in der Ausstellung. Everyone except Tina was at the exhibition.
gegenüber - opposite
Gegenüber dem Kaufhaus ist eine Eisdiele. – Opposite the shopping center there is an ice cream parlor.
German prepositions working in two shifts
There were also such pretexts - which had to work very hard to feed their families. They worked day and night, both in Dative and in Accusative. Such a difficult fate they had.
Here they are, the poor ones: An, auf, hinter, neben, in, über, unter, vor, zwischen!
An - at, on
Siegehen an den Strand. - They go to the beach.
Sie spielen an dem Strand.- They are playing on the beach.
in - in
Ich gehe in das Haus.- I'm going home.
Ich wohne in dem Haus. - I live at home.
neben - about
Stell den Stuhl neben mich.- Put a chair next to me.
Der Stuhl steht neben mir. The chair is next to me.
vor - before
Ich fahre vor das Haus. - I'm driving in front of the house.
Es steht vor dem Haus. He is standing in front of the house.
Accusative prepositions went to work, answering the question where? And the dative required them to answer the question - where? It's not difficult, is it?
special pretext
And one of the pretexts was a jack-of-all-trades, a great hard worker - both the genitive, and the dative, and the accusative needed him. This preposition is entlang.
With the dative (less often with the genitive), the preposition works by standing in front of the noun: Entlang dem Weg (des Weges) stehen schöne Wochenendhäuser. There are beautiful country houses along the road.
It works with the accusative by becoming after the noun: Der Weg führt den Bach entlang. - The path runs along the stream.
Family prepositions
Prepositions even started families - and with whom? Mostly with articles and they even had babies: new prepositions!
And here's what they ended up with...
An + dem = am
bei + dem = beim
In + dem = im
von + dem = vom
zu + dem = zum
zu + der = zur
an + das = ans
durch + das = durchs
fur + das = furs
in + das = ins
um + das = ums
vor + dem = vorm
And some prepositions fled forever from the country of German prepositions and married - who would you think: and on verbs - look what it was like. And on nouns, and even on adjectives. Or in adverbs, producing such prepositional adverbs: dabei, davon, hiermit, wozu, etc. Everyone has their own destiny...
P.S. This was just an introductory article about prepositions, more details coming soon...
If you want to learn German prepositions quickly and easily, then this topic is for you!
Now you will have advantages over other German learners!
German prepositions have their pitfalls. The most a big problem is that the suggestionspretty abstract. In addition, there are no explicit indicationsto use with the preposition of the correct case.
Of course, there are many suggestions. Here I would like to tell you about the main ones, knowing which, you will be able to express yourself quite freely.
After about 6 months of learning German, you should know the following prepositions:
Prepositions used with Akkusativ
durch, bis, fur, ohne, entlang, gegen, um
Prepositions used with Dative
bei, mit, seit, aus, zu, nach, von
Prepositions that are not used with any specific case:
hinter, an, neben, auf, unter, zwischen, vor, in, über
With which case to use the last group of prepositions depends on what the preposition from this group describes: a state of rest or action. You can determine this state by asking a question. The question "Where?" determines the state of the action, the question "Where?" - a state of rest.
Perhaps you once learned this rule in the following way:
To the question "Where?" (Wohin?) Akkusativ should be used,
to the pig "Where?" (Wo?) Dativ
For most German learners, prepositions that are not used with any specific case seem to be not such an easy thing to understand. And all because these rules are too abstract and overflowing with information.
Here you will find three ways to learn German prepositions:
Songs
Paints
Mnemonic pictures
Let's start with the songs.
How songs work for memorizing German prepositions, I will now show by the example of a song about prepositions used with Akkusativ. Let's list these prepositions again: durch, bis, für, ohne, entlang, gegen, um
Find any song you like and whose melody you can easily remember. It can be any song. Put the prepositions in such order that you can sing them to this melody.
In this example, I would like to introduce you to serious German culture, so I took the German folk song "Laurentia". Ask your teacher or German teacher, they know this song for sure
I rearranged the order of these prepositions so that I could sing them to this tune. Here's what happened:
And this is how the Akkusativ song sounds:
Do the same with prepositions used with Dative and with prepositions without a definite case. Just find a catchy tune, put the prepositions in order to sing to that tune, sing a few times, and you will see that it will be much easier and faster to remember these prepositions this way.
No desire to invent yourself? No problem! I have prepared two more songs especially for you.(Songs are included in the "Learn German Grammar With Mnemonics" kit)
By the way, why did I write the prepositions used with Akkusativ in blue (on the music sheet)?
Colors can be a powerful tool when it comes to understanding the German case system. Especially when it comes to prepositions, the help of colors can bring order and understanding to the chaos of the cases with which these prepositions are used.
So my advice is:
Use blue color for Accusative and red color for Dative. Why these particular colors? Of course, you can also use completely different colors. I chose these colors for my kit"Learn German with mnemonics" for certain reasons and on the basis of these colors he created an extensive system.
So, write down all the prepositions used with Akkusativ in your dictionaries or flashcards. blue color. You will quickly remember the correspondence of color to case and then you will easily remember that this preposition is used with Akkusativ:
Do the same with prepositions using Dative, but take red color:
In the case of prepositions with the indefinite case, you will really see what a powerful tool color is. When writing these prepositions, you need to use both colors: and red, and blue. How exactly to use them - depends on your imagination. For example, it might look like this:
If you are already impressed with the use of colors in learning German prepositions, you will be happy to learn about the possibility of combining color and mnemonics. So, let's see an example for the preposition hinter (behind, behind):
So which case should you use in this situation?
Right? You correctly thought that Dativ?