{"id":15792,"date":"2015-03-10T10:53:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T09:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/?p=15792"},"modified":"2015-03-10T10:53:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T09:53:26","slug":"german-dative-prepositions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/15792\/german-dative-prepositions","title":{"rendered":"German Dative Prepositions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dative-Prepositions\"<\/a><\/p>\n

German Prepositions<\/span><\/h2>\n

A preposition is a word such as for<\/strong>, without<\/strong> or to<\/strong>. Prepositions show the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other words and are usually placed before the noun or pronoun.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/strong>
\nThis cake is for<\/strong> you.
\nI can’t do it without<\/strong> your help.
\nHe moves to<\/strong> Germany.<\/p>\n

You can now learn even more on this topic with the help of a fun video and a grammar quiz. Simply check out our Information and Directions Module<\/a> in level A2. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Understanding the Meaning of Prepositions<\/h3>\n

\nGerman prepositions and their English counterpart aren’t always the same. The German preposition in<\/strong> for example is the same as the English preposition in<\/strong> but can be also used as into<\/strong> or to<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/strong>
\nMarkus ist in<\/span><\/strong> der Stadt. \u21e8 Markus is in<\/strong> town.
\nIch ging in<\/span><\/strong> die Post. \u21e8 I went into<\/strong> the post office.
\nEr m\u00f6chte nicht in<\/span><\/strong> die Kirche. \u21e8 He doesn’t want to go to<\/strong> church.<\/p>\n

Therefore it\u2018s important to get the idea out of your mind straight away that there is always a parallel meaning between German prepositions that resemble English prepositions because prepositions usually have more than one meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tip<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Try to remember prepositions in commonly used phrases and get a feeling for the various meanings a preposition may have.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prepositions and the Cases<\/h3>\n

\nGerman prepositions break down into four groups<\/strong>. Some of them use the accusative<\/a><\/span><\/strong> and some use the dative<\/span><\/strong> or genitive<\/span><\/strong> case. On top of this, there are also some that can be either accusative or dative<\/span><\/strong>, depending on the context of the sentence. <\/p>\n

In this blog we\u2019ll be looking at the dative prepositions. For more information on accusative prepositions take a look at our German Accusative Prepositions Blog<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Dative Prepositions<\/span><\/h3>\n

\nThere is a group of prepositions that are strictly dative. There are nine<\/strong> of these in total. And here they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Preposition<\/th>\nMasculine<\/th>\nFeminine<\/th>\nNeuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
aus (from, out of)<\/td>\naus dem<\/td>\naus der<\/td>\naus dem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
au\u00dfer (besides, except for)<\/td>\nau\u00dfer dem<\/td>\nau\u00dfer der<\/td>\nau\u00dfer dem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
bei (at, near, with)<\/td>\nbeim<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nbei der<\/td>\nbeim<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gegen\u00fcber (opposite, across from)<\/td>\ngegen\u00fcber dem<\/td>\ngegen\u00fcber der<\/td>\ngegen\u00fcber dem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mit (with, by)<\/td>\nmit dem<\/td>\nmit der<\/td>\nmit dem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
nach (after, past, to)<\/td>\nnach dem<\/td>\nnach der<\/td>\nnach dem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
seit (for, since)<\/td>\nseit dem<\/td>\nseit der<\/td>\nseit dem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
von (by, from, of)<\/td>\nvom<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nvon der<\/td>\nvom<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
zu (to)<\/td>\nzum<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nzur<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nzum<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nAs these prepositions are followed by the dative case the masculine article der<\/strong> and the neuter article das<\/strong> will change to dem<\/strong> while the feminine article die<\/strong> changes to der<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Once again, a few of these can be merged with the article to make one word. These shortened forms are:<\/p>\n

bei + dem = beim<\/span><\/strong>
\nvon + dem = vom<\/span><\/strong>
\nzu + dem = zum<\/span><\/strong>
\nzu + der = zur<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong>
\nHans kommt aus der<\/span><\/strong> Schweiz. \u21e8 Hans is from Switzerland.
\nWir haben alle die Pr\u00fcfung bestanden, au\u00dfer<\/span><\/strong> ihm. \u21e8 We all passed the exam except him.
\nWir werden uns bei<\/span><\/strong> ihr treffen. \u21e8 We’ll meet at her place.
\nDie Polizei ist gegen\u00fcber dem<\/span><\/strong> Rathaus. \u21e8 The police is opposite of the town hall.
\nEr l\u00e4uft jeden Tag mit dem<\/span><\/strong> Hund spazieren. \u21e8 He goes for a walk with the dog every day.
\nKannst du nach dem<\/span><\/strong> Weg fragen? \u21e8 Can you ask for directions?
\nSeit der<\/span><\/strong> Trennung ist sie sehr deprimiert. \u21e8 She’s been feeling very down since the break-up.
\nDie Touristeninformation ist in der N\u00e4he vom<\/span><\/strong> Markt. \u21e8 The tourist information is near the market.
\nSollen wir zum<\/span><\/strong> Zoo gehen? \u21e8 Shall we go to the zoo?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

German Prepositions A preposition is a word such as for, without or to. Prepositions show the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other words and are usually placed before the noun or pronoun. For example: This cake is for you. I can’t do it without your help. He moves to Germany. You can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15792"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15792"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15873,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15792\/revisions\/15873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}