1.10 Prepositions

Table of Contents

What Prepositions Do in German

Prepositions are small words that connect other words in a sentence. They usually give information about time, place, or other relationships. In German, prepositions are very important because they decide which grammatical case follows, for example nominative, accusative, or dative.

At A1 level you begin to see that you cannot simply translate an English preposition word for word. Sometimes the German preposition is different from what you expect, and the case may also change the form of the article. Understanding this idea prepares you for the detailed chapters on time prepositions, place prepositions, and prepositions with cases.

Prepositions and Cases

In English you can say “for the man” or “with the woman” without changing “the.” In German the preposition often changes “the.” This is because the noun after the preposition takes a certain case.

For example, “the” is:

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	der	die	das	die
Accusative	den	die	das	die
Dative	dem	der	dem	den

After many prepositions you must use accusative or dative. Some prepositions always take accusative, others always take dative. You will study the details later, but already you should see that the preposition and the article are connected.

German prepositions control the case of the following noun.
You must learn each preposition together with the case it uses.

Very Common General Prepositions

Here are some very frequent German prepositions that you will meet early. In later chapters you will see them again in more detail, for time, place, or special case rules.

Preposition	Basic meaning (very general)	Typical question it answers
in	in, into	Where? / Where to?
auf	on, onto	Where? / Where to?
an	at, on (vertical)	Where? / Where to?
unter	under	Where? / Where to?
über	over, above, about	Where? / What about?
vor	in front of, before	Where? / When?
hinter	behind	Where?
neben	next to, beside	Where?
zwischen	between	Where?
mit	with	With whom? / With what?
ohne	without	Without whom? / Without what?
für	for	For whom? / For what?
von	from, of	From where? / Whose?
bei	at, with (a person, company)	Where? / With whom?
nach	after, to (cities, countries)	When? / Where to?
aus	out of, from (origin)	From where?
seit	since, for (time)	Since when? / For how long?

At A1 you should start to recognize that many short words in German sentences are prepositions. Even if you do not yet know the exact case rule, you can understand that they show relations like “with,” “for,” “in,” “on,” “after,” or “before.”

Fixed Combinations with Verbs and Prepositions

Some verbs in German are often used together with certain prepositions. The combination can be different from English. For example:

“to wait for” in English
“warten auf” in German

“to speak with” in English
“sprechen mit” in German

You will meet many such combinations as you learn more verbs. At A1, just notice that sometimes the preposition belongs to the verb in a fixed way and is not free to change.

Learn common verb + preposition pairs together.
Do not translate the preposition word by word from English.

Contractions of Preposition + Article

In spoken and written German, some prepositions often merge with the definite article “der, die, das.” You will hear and read these forms very often. They are not separate words any more, but a single fixed form.

Important contractions are:

Preposition + Article	Contraction	Example meaning
an + dem	am	at the, on the
an + das	ans	to the, onto the
in + dem	im	in the
in + das	ins	into the
bei + dem	beim	at the, with the
von + dem	vom	from the
zu + dem	zum	to the (masc./neuter)
zu + der	zur	to the (fem.)

For example, “in dem Park” often becomes “im Park.” The meaning stays the same, but the form is shorter and more natural in everyday German.

When a preposition and “dem / das / der” combine,
the contraction is the normal form in everyday German.

Prepositions and Movement vs. Position

Many place prepositions can describe position or movement. For position you answer “Where?” For movement you answer “Where to?” This difference is important, because it usually changes the case. You will learn the exact rules in the chapters on place prepositions and prepositions with dative and accusative.

For now, focus on the meaning:

Position, “Where?”
Er ist in der Stadt.
He is in the city.

Movement, “Where to?”
Er geht in die Stadt.
He goes to the city.

The preposition “in” is the same word, but the idea of movement or rest is different.

Prepositions in Everyday Phrases

You will already meet many small everyday phrases that use prepositions. It is useful to learn them as blocks.

Examples of typical patterns:

“am Wochenende”
“im Restaurant”
“ins Kino”
“zum Bahnhof”
“bei mir”
“von zu Hause”

Even if you do not yet fully understand why a certain case appears, you can copy these phrases and use them correctly.

At A1 level, memorize common prepositional phrases as complete expressions.
This helps you sound natural even before you master all case rules.

Summary for A1 Learners

Prepositions are small words, but they have big effects in German. They show relations in time and space and they decide the case of the noun that follows. You have seen that some prepositions are extremely common and that some of them combine with articles to form short contractions. You have also seen that position and movement use the same preposition word, but different cases.

Later chapters will give you specific lists and rules for time prepositions, place prepositions, and the difference between dative and accusative after prepositions. For now, begin to notice prepositions in texts and conversations, and link each one to its basic meaning and typical expressions.

Vocabulary List for This Chapter

German	English
die Präposition	preposition
die Präpositionen	prepositions
in	in, into
auf	on, onto
an	at, on (vertical)
unter	under
über	over, above, about
vor	in front of, before
hinter	behind
neben	next to, beside
zwischen	between
mit	with
ohne	without
für	for
von	from, of
bei	at, with (a person, company)
nach	after, to (cities, countries)
aus	out of, from (origin)
seit	since, for (time)
am	at the, on the
ans	to the, onto the
im	in the
ins	into the
beim	at the, with the
vom	from the
zum	to the (masculine, neuter)
zur	to the (feminine)
warten auf	to wait for
sprechen mit	to speak with
die Position	position
die Bewegung	movement
die Frage	question
die Zeit	time
der Ort	place, location