Adjectives / Prepositions

GERMAN ADJECTIVES WITH PREPOSITIONS

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One beautiful thing about german Language is that it always makes provision for an alternative. Adjectives with prepositions which is the alternative to verbs with prepositions, is quite simple and easy to use. Like verbs with prepositions, they consist of adjectives that are used with prepositions which can either be of Akkusativ, Dativ or even both. Walk with me as I explain it carefully.

Content in this post
1. What are adjective with?
2. List of adjectives with prepositions
3. How to make sentences with adjectives with prepositions
Table of content for german adjectives with prepositions

Remembering what adjectives are, they are words that, describe, qualify or modify a noun. They can either be used alone (as verb complements) or placed before or after a noun. One thing about german adjectives is how they can be used sometimes with and some other times without an ending. Of course the choice of ending is “immer” dependent on three things: The gender of the noun it describes, the type of article that precedes it and the grammatical case of the noun it describes. Learn how to use german adjectives properly here.

German adjectives with prepositions is a term that describes how certain adjectives are used with certain fixed prepositions to give a certain meaning. Just like verbs with prepositions and nouns with prepositions in both English and German, the most important thing to consider is the meaning. This meaning is totally different from a case where that same adjective is used only as an adjective in a sentence that probably contains the same preposition. So it is quite tricky and you have to pay attention to it, in order to be the best German 🔁 English reader/translator.

While adjectives are used in a german sentence in different ways, they are only used as verb complements (often with sein) with regards to this topic. What this means is that, german adjectives in this case are never used to describe a noun and are never declined or have endings. As a matter of fact, this is the only way to distinguish the “adjectives with prepositions” from sentences that contain both adjectives and prepositions. As opposed to the natural end-position of adjectives, those with prepositions are rather placed directly after the verb.

These prepositions can either be of Akkusativ, Dativ or both cases. Those that are previously known to be of Akkusativ remain Akkusativ and likewise those of Dativ. While those that are of Two-case can either be Akkusativ or Dativ. All your have to do is learn them just as they are. Some examples of these adjectives with prepositions are listed below.

Note that these prepositions can equally be declined as usual depending on its requirement. For example, an can sometimes be used as am and likewise zu as zur etc.

List of Adjectives with Prepositions

German AkkusativEnglishGerman DativEnglish
angepasst anadapted toarm anpoor in
(un)gewöhnt an(not)used tobeteiligt aninvolved in
angewiesen aufdepended oninteressiert aninterested in
ärgerlich aufannoyed withschuld anblamed for
böse aufangry withreich anrich in
eifersüchtig aufjealous ofverzweifelt andesperate with
gefasst aufprepared for (mentally)angesehen beifamed with
gespannt aufexcited foranwesend beipresent at
konzentriert auffocused onbehilflich beihelpful with
neidisch aufenvious ofbekannt bei(well-)known at
neugierig aufcurious aboutbeliebt beipopular with/among
spezialisiert aufspecialized inbeschäftigt beibusy at
stolz aufproud ofgut beigood at
vorbereitet aufprepared for(un)erfahren in(in)experienced with
wütend aufangry withgut ingood in
(un)angenehm für(un)pleasant forbefreundet mitfriends with
bekannt für(well-)known for (negative)beschäftigt mitbusy/occupied with
berühmt fürfamous for (positive)einverstanden mitin agreement with
bezeichnend fürsignificant offertig mitfinished with
charakteristisch fürcharacterized bygeduldig mitpatient with
dankbar fürthankful forverabredet mitappointed to
engagiert fürcommitted toverbunden mitconnected to
entscheidend fürcrucial forvergleichbar mitcomparable to
(un)geeignet für(un)suitable forverheiratet mitmarried to
(un)gefährlich für(non)dangerous forverlobt mitengaged to
giftig fürtoxic toverwandt mitrelated to
offen füropen to(un)zufrieden mit(un)satisfied with
nützlich füruseful forgierig nachvoracious/ greedy for
schädlich fürharmful toverrückt nachcrazy about
schwierig fürdifficult forangeregt vonactive in
typisch fürtypical for(un)abhängig von(non)dependent on
verantwortlich füraccountablebegeistert vonamazed by
wichtig fürimportant toentfernt vonfar from
zuständig fürresponsible forenttäuscht vondisappointed in
allergisch gegenallergic toerholt vonrecovered from
unterteilt inseparated intofrei vonfree of/from
verliebt inin love withgenervt vonnerved with
aufgeregt überexcited forgetrennt vonseparated from
besorgt überconcerned aboutmüde vontired of/from
beunruhigt überworried aboutüberzeugt vonconvinced by
empört überupset aboutvoll vonfull of
entsetzt überhorrified byblass vorpale with
enttäuscht überdisappointed withrot vorred with
erfreut überhappy over(un)sicher vor(un/in)sure/secure of
erstaunt übersurprised aboutstumm vormute in
froh überglad aboutaggressiv zuaggressive to
glücklich überhappy aboutbereit zuready to
traurig übersad aboutentschlossen zudetermined to
verärgert überangry aboutfähig zuable in
verwundert übersurprised by(un)freundlich zu(un)friendly to
wütend überupset withgeeignet zusuitable to
besorgt umconcerned forgut zugood to
nett zunice to
List of adjectives with prepositions

Since prepositions have their primary role in a sentence as intermediaries, that is, they relate two nouns or pronouns (usually subject and object) to each other, a noun or pronoun must be placed directly after them. They are placed directly after the adjective and before the noun or pronoun. The order of a sentence with “adjective with preposition” becomes: Subject + Verb (sein) + Adjective + Preposition + Object (I.e S+V+A+P+O).

QuestionsAnswers
1. Worüber bist traurig?
(what are you sad about?)		Ich bin traurig über das Fehler, das ich gemacht habe.
(I am sad about the mistake that I have made.)
2. Mit wessen Tochter ist Meier befreundet?
(Whose daughter is Meier friends with)		Mit der Tochter des Mannes, deren Frau im Krankenhaus arbeitet, ist Meier befreundet.
3. Wofür seid ihr dankbar?
(What are you guys thankful for?)		Wir sind dankbar für unsere Eltern.
(We are thankful for our parents)
4. Mit wem is Martin verheiratet?
(Who are you married to?)		Er ist mit Maria verheiratet.
(He is married to Maria)
Sentences with adjectives with prepositions

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