German grammar by topic › German prepositions and their cases, explained

German prepositions and their cases, explained

Each German preposition takes a fixed case. A handful always take the accusative, more always take the dative, and nine two-way prepositions take the accusative for a destination and the dative for a location.

The two-way question is wohin or wo: Ich gehe in die Küche (where to?), Ich bin in der Küche (where?).

The essentials

Always accusative: durch, für, gegen, ohne, um: ein Geschenk für den Lehrer.
Always dative: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu: mit dem Bus, zu der Ärztin.
Two-way: an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen. Accusative for movement towards a place, dative for a position.
Common contractions: in dem becomes im, zu dem becomes zum, zu der becomes zur, an dem becomes am.
Many verbs come with a fixed preposition: warten auf, denken an, sich freuen über. Ask about the thing with worauf, woran, worüber, and refer back with darauf, daran, darüber.

Every lesson on this topic

Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.

A1 (the A1 course)

Prepositions with the accusative: durch, für, gegen, ohne, um: Five prepositions that are always followed by the accusative.
Prepositions with the dative: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu: Seven everyday prepositions that always take the dative, and the short forms zum, zur, beim, vom.
Asking the way: Wie komme ich zum Bahnhof? links, rechts, geradeaus, an der Ampel, bis zur Kreuzung

A2 (the A2 course)

Two-way prepositions: wo? or wohin?: in, an, auf and six more: dative for where something is, accusative for where it goes
Putting and being: stellen, stehen, legen, liegen: Verb pairs for putting things somewhere and for where things are
Verbs with fixed prepositions: warten auf, denken an, sich freuen auf and über: learn the verb together with its preposition.
darauf, worauf, damit, womit: Replace or ask about a thing after a preposition: darauf (on it, for it), worauf (on what, for what).
Time prepositions: vor, nach, seit, in, ab, bis, während: Say when, since when, how long ago and until when with the right little word.

B1 (the B1 course)

wegen, trotz, während, statt + genitive: Say because of, despite, during and instead of with a noun, in writing and in speech.

In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions that explain the rule when you slip, and brought back for review on later days.

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