Präpositionen

Learning the prepositions

Prepositions are words that connect two other elements in a sentence. In general, prepositions represent one of the most difficult parts to master in any language. So, although there are general rules for their use, only practicing the language will bring a real understanding of the use of these.

In the German language, the use of prepositions establishes the grammatical case of the words that follow them (in a few rare cases, those that precede it).

Some prepositions require the use of the genitive, others of the dative or accusative, depending on the context of the sentence.

Prepositions that always require accusative
bis: until
durch: through
entlang: along
für: for
gegen: against
ohne: without
um: at
wider: towards, against

Prepositions that always require dative
aus: out of
außer: except for
bei: at, etc
mit: with
nach: after, to
seit: since, for
von: from
zu: to
gegenüber: across from, relating to
ab: since

Prepositions that always require genitive
während: during
trotz: in spite of
statt/anstatt: instead of
wegen: because of
innerhalb: inside of
außerhalb: outside of
jenseits: on the other side
diesseits: on this side of

Prepositions that sometimes require accusative, sometimes dative (two-way prepositions)
an: at, on
auf: on
hinter: behind
in: in
neben: next to
über: over
unter: under
vor: in front of
zwischen: between

Very commonly we find contractions of prepositions and articles in German. The most common are:

Common contractions
am (an+dem)
ans (an+das)
aufs (auf+das)
beim (bei+dem)
durchs (durch+das)
fürs (für+das)
hinterm (hinter+dem)
ins (in+das)
im (in+dem)
übers (über+das)
ums (um+das)
unters (unter+das)
unterm (unter+dem)
vom (von+dem)
vors (vor+das)
vorm (vor+dem)
zum (zu+dem)
zur (zu+der)