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Lesson 7 - Prepositions II

Preposition + Accusative or Dative Case

Some prepositions in German take either the accusative or the dative case, depending on whether the emphasis of the sentence is on the position or the location, these prepositions are called 'two-way prepositions'.
The accusative case is used when the sentence expresses change of position or movement toward a place, while the dative case is used when the sentence expresses position or place within a fixed location.

The most common two-way prepositions are:

Preposition	Definition
an	to, onto, at
auf	on, onto
hinter	behind
in	in, into
neben	next to
über	over
unter	under
vor	in front of
zwischen	between

Combination	Example	Definition
an + acc.	Sie hängt das Bild an die Wand	She is hanging the picture on the wall
an + dat.	Das Bild hängt an der Wand	The picture is hanging on the wall
auf + acc.	Sie legt das Messer auf den Tisch	She lays the knife on the table
auf + dat.	Das Messer liegt auf dem Tisch	The knife lies on the table
hinter + acc.	Er stellt die Schuhe hinter die Tür	He puts the shoe behind the door
hinter + dat.	Die Schuhe stellen hinter der Tür	The shoes are behind the wall
in + acc.	Die Kinder gehen in die Schule	The children go to school
in + dat.	Der Kinder sind in der Schule	The children are in school
neben + acc.	Ich stelle den Stuhl neben das Fenster	I place the chair next to the window
neben + dat.	Der Stuhl steht neben dem Fenster	The chair is (standing) next to the window
über + acc.	Der Junge klettert über den Zaun	The boy is climbing over the fence
über + dat.	Der Handtuch hängt über dem Zaun	The towel is hanging over the fence
unter + acc.	Der Ball rollte unter den Stuhl	The ball rolled under the chair
unter + dat.	Der Ball ist unter dem Stuhl	The ball is under the chair
vor + acc.	Stell den Stuhl vor das Fenster	Put the chair in front of the window
vor + dat.	Ich sitze vor dem Fernseher	I'm sitting infront of the TV
zwischen + acc.	Sie hat den Brief zwischen das Buch und die Zeitung gelegt	She placed the letter between the book and the newspaper
zwischen + dat.	Der Brief liegt zwischen dem Buch und der Zeitung	The letter is lying between the book and the newspaper

In each of the accusative examples shown above, the verb shows movement from one place to another; thus the accusative case is used.
The dative examples however don't indicate movement, instead they only describe location, they tell where someone or something is, thus the dative case is used.

Verbs Accompanied by Two-way Prepositions

Some verbs that don't describe motion or position are accompanied by two-way prepositions. Most of these verbs require the accusative case, since they don't indicate location; however, there are a few that require the dative case.
Some of the most common verbs are shown in the table below:

Verb	Case	Definition
achten auf	acc.	pay attention to
sich beklagen über	acc.	complain about
denken an	acc.	think about
sich erinnern an	acc.	remind of
erkennen an	dat.	recognize by
sich freuen auf	acc.	look forward to
sich freuen über	acc.	be glad about
glauben an	acc.	believe in
hoffen auf	acc.	hope for
sich irren in	acc.	be wrong about
leiden an	dat.	suffer from
reden über	acc.	talk about
schreiben an	acc.	write to
schreiben über	acc.	write about
schützen vor	dat.	protect from
sprechen über	acc.	speak about
sterben an	dat.	die from
teilnehmen an	dat.	take part in
sich verlassen auf	acc.	rely on
sich verlieben in	acc.	fall in love with
warnen vor	dat.	warn against
warten auf	acc.	wait for

Short Form

In some instances, the preposition and the definite article are joined together.

• an + das = ans
• an + dem = am
• auf + das = aufs
• in + das = ins
• in + dem = im
• hinter + das = hinters
• über + das = übers
• unter + das = unters
• vor + das = vors

Learning Tip

You probably feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of prepositions, however as a beginner you won't use all of them. Also, it would be better if you try to learn them in context, so that you'll know when to use them, and make sure that you know which prepositions take which cases.