Posted by One might have thought that prepositions are just words that relate things together and that’s just it. Well, at least not in every language! The German prepositions in particular perform a very profound role in the language in that, they are case specific and therefore can determine the grammar of various parts of that sentence. In this five-minute write up, you’ll learn about the various types of prepositions in German.
| Content In This Post |
|---|
| 1. What are prepositions? 2. Prepositional rules in German 3. Akkusativ prepositions 4. Dativ prepositions 5. Two-case prepositions 6. Genitiv prepositions |
What Are Prepositions?
Simply put, a preposition is a word which shows the relationship between two nouns or pronouns. Prepositions in German are particularly interesting because they do not just relate two nouns or pronouns, but also give room to have multiples of different grammatical cases in a sentence as listed below.
- Akkusativ prepositions
- Dativ prepositions
- Two case prepositions
- Genitiv prepositions
Prepositional Rules in German
The usage of the several categories of preposition in German is governed by certain laid down rules which are listed below;
- They must stay between the nouns or pronouns they are relating in the sentence.
- The grammatical case of the next noun or pronoun directly after them must be the case of that preposition. For example, the grammatical case after a dative preposition must be dative.
Akkusativ Präposition
These are prepositions that conditions the case directly after them to be Akkusativ. In other words, apart from having an Akkusativ in a sentence which is due to it being a direct object, we can as well have it as from using prepositions. The Akkusativ prepositions are;
| German | English |
|---|---|
| für ohne gegen bis um durch | for/ in favor of without against till around through |
| German | English |
|---|---|
| 1. Die Frauen sind für den Mann. | The women are in favor of the man. |
| 2. Ich bin durch den Tunnel gefahren. | I drove through the tunnel. |
| 3. sie reist ohne ihr Haustier. | She is traveling without her pet. |
| 4. warum kämpfst du gegen mich? | Why are you fighting against me? |
Dativ Präposition
These prepositions condition the case directly after them to be Dativ. They are;
| German | English |
|---|---|
| gegenüber | opposite |
| nach | after/ to |
| zu | to/ at/ for |
| bei | with/ at/ near |
| mit | with |
| ab | from |
| von | from/ of |
| aus | out/ out of |
| seit | since |
| außer | except/ apart from |
| German | English |
|---|---|
| 1. Ich wohne bei meiner Oma 👵. | I live with my grandma. |
| 2. Jane kommt aus Mexico. | Jane comes from Mexico. |
| 3. Sie haben allen außer mir Blumen gekauft. | They bought flowers for everyone except me. |
| 4. Wie bist du nach Berlin gefahren? | How did you go to Berlin? |
Two-case Präposition
These prepositions sometimes condition the case directly after them to be Akkusativ and other times Dativ depending on the intent of motion or not. Examples are;
| German | English |
|---|---|
| vor | before/ in front of |
| über | above/ over/ across |
| unter | under/ underneath |
| hinter | behind |
| in | in/ into |
| zwischen | between |
| neben | near/ next to |
| auf | on/ in |
| an | on/ at |
| Case | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| Akk | 1. Der Hund läuft unter den Tisch. | The Dog is running under the table (going there) |
| Dat | 2. Der Hund läuft unter dem Tisch. | The Dog is running under the table (already there) |
Genitiv Präposition
Just like other prepositions, Genitiv prepositions equally condition the case after them to be Genitiv. Examples are;
| German | English |
|---|---|
| innerhalb außerhalb zugunsten wegen trotz während statt/ anstatt aufgrund infolge anlässlich | within/ inside (of) outside (of) in support/favor of because of despite /in spite of during/ throughout instead (of) due to as a result of as a result of |
Note that wegen, aufgrund, anlässlich and infolge may all be interpreted in English as “due to, as a result of and because of”. However, they are not used under similar conditions as explained here.
| German | English |
|---|---|
| 1. Frank hat ein Hemd anstatt Schuhe gekauft. | Frank bought a shirt instead of shoes. |
| 2. Die Linie ist wegen den Bauarbeiten geschlossen. | The route is closed because of construction work. |
| 3. ich habe den Eifel-Turm während des Urlaubs besichtigt. | I visited the Eifel tower during the holiday. |
| 4. Trotz des Regens konnten wir noch einkaufen gehen. | Despite the rain, we could still go shopping |