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Free practice · Prepositions
German prepositions and their cases.
Every preposition the course drills, in one chart by the case it takes, each with its meaning and phrases from the course. Then a round that asks which one a phrase needs.
28 prepositions and 103 phrases. No account needed.
Phrase 1 of 100 right
Which preposition?
… Ende
at the end
Press 1 to 4 to answer.
The chart
Every preposition, by case.
A preposition decides the case of the noun after it. Learn each one with its case, and the article that follows takes care of itself.
Always accusative6
The noun after these is in the accusative, whatever the sentence is doing.
- bisuntil, as far asbis acht Uhr · until eight o'clockbis zum Ende · until the end
- durchthroughdurch die Straße · through the streetdurch das Haus · through the house
- fürforfür die Familie · for the familyfür die Leute · for the people
- gegenagainst, towardsgegen die Zeit · against the clockgegen den Mann · against the man
- ohnewithoutohne Geld · without moneyohne Antwort · without an answer
- umaround, at (a time)um die Welt · around the worldum acht Uhr · at eight o'clock
Always dative9
The noun after these is in the dative, every time.
- ausout of, fromaus dem Haus · out of the houseaus der Familie · from the family
- außerexcept, apart fromaußer dem Kind · except the childaußer der Familie · except the family
- beiat, near, withbei der Ankunft · on arrivalbei der Familie · with the family (at their place)
- gegenüberoppositegegenüber dem Haus · opposite the housegegenüber der Schule · opposite the school
- mitwithmit der Familie · with the familymit dem Mann · with the man
- nachafter, tonach Hause · home (homewards)nach der Ankunft · after the arrival
- seitsince, for (a length of time)seit der Ankunft · since the arrivalseit dem Moment · since that moment
- vonfrom, ofvon der Familie · from the familyvom Mann · from the man
- zuto, atzu Hause · at homezur Zeit · at the time
Two-way9
Dative for a place (where?), accusative for a direction (where to?). The same nine prepositions do both jobs.
- anat, on (a side or surface)am Ende · at the endam Haus · on the house (against its wall)
- aufon, ontoauf dem Platz · on the squareauf die Frage · to the question (an answer to it)
- hinterbehindhinter dem Haus · behind the househinter der Schule · behind the school
- inin, intoin der Welt · in the worldin der Familie · in the family
- nebennext to, besidesneben dem Haus · next to the houseneben der Frau · next to the woman
- überover, above, aboutüber die Welt · about the worldüber dem Kopf · above the head
- unterunder, amongunter den Leuten · among the peopleunter dem Buch · under the book
- vorin front of, beforevor dem Haus · in front of the housevor dem Ende · before the end
- zwischenbetweenzwischen den Kindern · between the childrenzwischen den Häusern · between the houses
Genitive4
Formal and written German keeps the genitive after these; spoken German often slips into the dative.
- stattinstead ofstatt einer Antwort · instead of an answerstatt des Geldes · instead of the money
- trotzdespitetrotz der Angst · despite the feartrotz des Geldes · despite the money
- währendduringwährend der Arbeit · during workwährend des Spiels · during the game
- wegenbecause ofwegen der Arbeit · because of workwegen des Geldes · because of the money
The short forms
When a preposition swallows its article.
Some prepositions fuse with dem, der, or das. The fused form is the normal one in speech and print; the two-word form is grammatical but sounds emphatic.
- aman dem
- imin dem
- ansan das
- insin das
- zumzu dem
- zurzu der
- beimbei dem
- vomvon dem
The same material, inside the course
What changes with an account.
Here the phrases are the whole set at once. In the course, preposition practice is one of four drills, and it only asks about phrases whose words you have learned.
Lessons in small batches, typed both ways
Meet a few words at a time with article, plural, and meaning, then type them German to English and English to German.
Four drills, and the whole course
Gender, verb forms, prepositions, and sentence gaps open as your vocabulary grows, across a course of more than 17,000 entries.
The prepositions, phrases, and case notes come from the Wortplay course. Its vocabulary draws on the Ding dictionary and on frequency data from wordfreq. About the sources.