Prepositions and places

Today I’ve been learning about how to use some German prepositions with places. Here’s a quick summary…

nach
This means “to”, and is used for place names without articles. These can be countries, towns, continents, whatever:

nach Deutschland
wir fahren nach Hamburg

Nach is also used for compass points and directions, e.g. nach Süden, nach links.

in
Again, this means “to”. In is used or place names with the definite article, and for areas:

in die Schweiz
eine Reise in die Türkei
ins Erzgebirge

an
Used in the sense of “on” or “up against”, an is the correct preposition when talking about rivers, lakes and places next to something:

an die Ostsee
an den Rhein
Frankfurt am Main
am Ufer des Sees

auf
Auf is used for heights, ascent and for islands and peninsulas:

auf gen Gipfel
auf den Turm
auf die Insel

And that’s it for now. I have to go and tidy up the garden… Bis morgen!

Wechselpräpositionen

Hello again. It’s a bank holiday in the UK (ein öffentlicher Feiertag) and the weather can be perfectly described as stark bewölkt. Oh well, it’s time for a recap on Wechselpräpositionen. These are the prepositions which are followed by the accusative when they express movement towards something, and by the dative when they express position (der Wechsel: change, transition).

The Wechselpräpositionen are:

an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor and zwischen.

(The precise use of prepositions differs from language to language, and most of these have more than one meaning, depending on how they’re used. As far as I can tell, hinter, neben and zwischen are the only ones that don’t.)

The accusative case answers the question wohin? (where to?), and so the definite article would then be den (masculine), die (feminine), das (neuter), or die (plural).

The dative answers the question wo? (where?). In the dative case, the definite articles are dem, der, dem and den (+n).

A couple of examples:

Wenn ich Zeit haben, gehe ich ins Fitness-Studio. (The question would be “Where do you go (to)?”, which means the accusative is used.)

Ich bleibe etwa eine Stunde im Fitness-Studio. (This answers the question, “In which place?”, hence the dative case is used.)

So, in summary… If there’s movement towards something, the accusative is used; if you’re saying where something is, the dative is used.

That’s all for now; I’m off out to tidy the garden…

Seit Januar

Guten Tag. Well, today I’ve been practising saying how long I’ve been doing something, using the preposition seit.

There are two ways to say how long you’ve lived somewhere:

1. Give the date:

Ich wohne seit 2002 in Inverness.

2. Say how many years or months you’ve been there:

Ich wohne seit einem Jahr in Berlin.
Ich wohne seit einem Monat in Berlin.
Ich wohne seit 20 Jahren in Berlin.

NB, in English, the question would be, “How long have you lived in Berlin?”, or “How long have you been living in Berlin?”. In German, the present tense is used: Seit wann wohen Sie in Berlin?

Seit is one of those prepositions that is followed by the dative only. A handy way of remembering this group of prepositions is to use this little rhyme, which I found in an old textbook last week:

Von Ausbeimit nach Vonseitzu, fährst immer mit dem Dativ du!

Seit is the equivalent of since (indicating time):

Ich habe sie seit Ostern nicht gesehen.
Er ist hier seit Montag.

It can also mean “for”:

Seit vier Monaten.
Seit einiger Zeit.

For an action or state that started in the past and is on going, seit and the present tense is used (equivalent to the perfect continuous tense in English):

Du isst seit einer Stunde: You’ve been eating for an hour.

When referring to something that started and ended in the past, use seit and the past tense:

Er war seit einer Stunde dort.

That’s something for another day, though! One last thing to note: to use since as a conjunction (“for the reason that”), use da. For example:

Da er aber hier ist… Since he’s here, though…

Bis bald!

More stuff about prepositions

I had planned to go for a haircut this morning, but it’s been pouring down with rain since I got up. As much as I could do with a trim, I’m not going out in that. No chance. The German for haircut, in case you’re wondering, is der Haarschnitt.

So, instead of visiting der Barbier, I’ve been revising prepositions and the use of the dative. To recap, when the prepositions in or an are used to mean “into” or “towards” (indicating movement), they are followed by the accusative form. When these prepositions are used to say where something is (answering the question, wo?) they must be followed by the dative form. For example:

in einem Dorf
in einem Reihenhaus

The dative is recognised by the following endings:
–em (singular masculine and neuter)
–er (singular feminine)

The definite article dem is usually shortened, so that in dem and an dem become im and am.

The dative plural (for all genders) is –en. If the plural noun doesn’t end in –n, then one is added:
Viele Leute möchten in den Häusern in der Altstadt wohnen.

The dative case is the one most often used after a preposition – something to bear in mind when you’re not sure and you have to guess.

These prepositions always take the dative: aus, außer, bei, gegenüber, mit, nach, seit, von, zu. (There are others, too.)

Bis, durch, entlang, für, gegen, ohne, and um always take the accusative.

(Interestingly, the preposition for “without” is always followed by the accusative form, while the preposition meaning “with” always takes the dative. If there’s any particular significance to this, please do let me know!)

As already mentioned, in and an are part of a group that take the accusative if it’s implied there’s motion towards something, and dative if there isn’t. The others are auf, hinter, neben, über, unter, vor and zwischen.

Zu and nach are in the “always take the dative group”, so even if they indicate motion towards something, the dative form is still used.

One other thing to note: in German, the definite article is always used with street names, e.g. Ich wohne in der Ziolkowskistraße.

It’s still raining. Tschüss erstmal!

Using the prepositions ‘in’ and ‘an’

I’m having a really busy day, but thankfully, I’ve managed to squeeze in a quick bit of revision. This is about using the prepositions in and an.

The following sentences indicate motion, or more specifically, motion towards something.

Ich gehe ins Museum – I am going to the museum.
Wir woollen an einen See fahren – We want to go to a lake.
Meine Mutter geht gern in die Oper – My mother likes going to the opera.

The prepositions in and an take the accusative case when used with a verb of motion (gehen, fahren, etc). You use an if you are going towards water (ans Meer, an den See, an den Fluss), otherwise use in (ins Theater, in den Park).

It’s worth noting that ins is normally used instead of in das, and ans is used instead of an das. (Something to find out about: would it still be correct to use in das and an das?)

When the verb does not indicate motion, the prepositions take the dative case. That, however, is something for another day!

Heute ist der elften März

Hallo. It’s Monday, it’s bright and sunny, and I have the new David Bowie album. I’m having a pretty good day so far.

Anyway, here are today’s revision notes…

Ordinal numbers

Numbers up to 19: add –(t)e, e.g. acht becomes der achte, zehn becomes zehnte.

Eins, drei and sieben are slightly irregular: der erste, der dritte, der siebte.

Numbers from 20: add –ste, e.g. zweiundzwanzig becomes der zeiundzwanzigste.

To say when something is happening, add –n to the number:
Ich komme am fünften März.

This also applies to time spans:
Ich bin vom dritten Juli bis zun zwanzigsten Juli in London.

Prepositions

Following the stuff about saying what time you’ll be in the office (“Ich bin bis 10 Uhr im Büro” and all that), I’ve also been revising prepositions. These words stand in from of a noun or pronoun to relate it to the rest of the sentence. In German, most prepositions cannot be followed by a verb, but those that can be use the infinitive with zu, e.g. um zu singen.

I’m not going to cover prepositions in any great depth at this stage, just the six used in phrases saying when someone is available or not. Suffice to say, prepositions are followed by nouns or pronouns in the accusative, dative or genitive case, and I’ve noted the appropriate case for each preposition. (But apart from that, I’m trying to keep it simple for now!)

ab (dative): from – ab morgen

an (dative – no motion, or motion within): at – am Wochenende

bis (accusative): until, as far as – Bis jetzt habe ich nichts gesehen

in (dative – no motion, or motion within): in – im Oktober

um (accusative): round, around – um 2005; at (with clock times) – um Mittag

von (dative): from – von Morgen bis in die Nacht

That’s all for now… Bis morgen!