What you need to know about the German prepositions

To Learn German is easy! I help you to figure out the German prepositions. These are words that help us to determine the connection between the object and the rest of the sentence, mainly in terms of time and place. We have created an awesome German prepositions list for you!

You can also divide the German prepositions by the cases that they take. Some German prepositions take the accusative, dative, or genitive case. Some can even take multiple cases, but you have to decide based on the context of the sentence.

Akkusativ Präpositionen

I like to think about prepositions like computer viruses. You have your structure with the direct and indirect object but suddenly there is a preposition and everything changes. After the accusative prepositions, you always use the accusative case.

für	for	Ich arbeite für das Unternehmen.	I work for the company.
gegen	against	Der Mann spielt gegen die Frau.	The man plays against the woman.
durch	through, across	Ich schwimme durch das Wasser.	I swim through the water.
ohne	without	Der Hund spaziert ohne den Besitzer.	The dog is walking without the owner.
um	at, around	Die Katze geht um den Tisch.	The cat goes around the table.

Übung – Exercise

In this podcast episode, I am teaching you the German prepositions. Listen to it during your next workout or walk in the park.

dativ präpositionen

Always use the dative case after these prepositions. Try the exercise as well.

aus	out of, from	Ich gehe aus dem Haus.	I go out of the house.
bei	near, at	Du bist bei deiner Schwester.	You are at your sister’s.
mit	with	Der Hund spielt mit der Katze.	The dog is playing with the cat.
nach	after, to	Nach dem Unterricht werde ich schlafen.	After class, I’ll sleep.
seit	since, for	Seit den Ferien habe ich zugenommen.	I’ve gained weight since the holidays.
von	from, of	Wir möchten uns von dem Training erholen.	We want to recover from the training.
zu	to	Er hat die Tomaten zum Kochen gekauft.	He bought the tomatoes to cook.

Learn the dative verbs with this song.

Übung – Exercise

Genitiv Präpositionen

aufgrund/auf Grund, wegen	due to, because of	Aufgrund der Ferien gibt es keinen Unterricht.	There are no classes due to the holidays.
trotz, ungeachtet	despite, notwithstanding	Trotz des Regens gehe ich spazieren.	Despite the rain, I go for a walk.
anstelle, an Stelle, statt	instead of	Anstelle eines Hundes hat sie eine Katze gekauft.	Instead of a dog, she bought a cat.
nördlich	north of	Nördlich der Stadt gibt es einen See.	There is a lake north of the city.
oberhalb	above	Ich habe starke Schmerzen oberhalb des Knies.	I have severe pain above the knee.
während	during	Während der Mathestunde hatte ich eine Idee.	I had an idea during the math lesson.

Wechselpräpositionen

Learning the German language and the prepositions can be difficult because some prepositions can take either the accusative or the dative case. Here is an easy guide for the two-way prepositions. The accusative prepositions are about change of state and the dative prepositions are about location.

You can also ask:

• “wohin/where to” for accusative and
• “wo/where” for the dative.

Translation – Übersetzung

an	on, to
auf	on, upon
hinter	behind
in	in, into
neben	next to
über	over
unter	under
vor	before, in front of
zwischen	between

There are more things to learn about prepositions but these lists should provide you an easy guide for the prepositions in the German language. If you like this explanation and would like to learn more, then please leave your email below to receive more helpful information.

Exercise: German Two-Way Prepositions