Prepositions
Almost all of the prepositions you will encounter in German are listed here with their most common meanings:
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an
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at
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nach
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to (with place names),
after, according to |
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(an)statt
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instead of
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neben
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next to
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auf
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up, on
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ohne
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without
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aus
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out of, from
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seit
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since, for (with time)
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außer
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except
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trotz
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in spite of
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bei
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with, in the case of, at
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über
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over, about / concerning
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durch
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through, by means of
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um
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around, at (with time)
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entlang
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along
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unter
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under, among
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für
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for (on behalf of)
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von
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from, of, by (means of)
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gegen
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against, towards
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vor
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in front of / before, ago
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gegenüber
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opposite
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während
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during
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gemäß
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according to
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wegen
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on account of / because of
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hinter
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behind
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wider
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against
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in
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in
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zu
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to
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mit
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with
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zwischen
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between
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Just be careful to not count on any German prepositions equating to any single English preposition. As your dictionary will show you (for both English and German!), the meanings of prepositions are very context-dependent.
Sometimes the combination of particular prepositions with certain verbs or adjectives will determine the meaning of the preposition involved, as in the idioms: denken an (to think of or about), glauben an (to believe in), stolz auf (proud of), warten auf (to wait for), or sich fürchten vor (to be afraid of).
Therefore, when consulting your dictionary for verbs and nouns generally, pay attention to how particular word + preposition combinations can determine very different directions for the meaning of the main word. For example, compare your dictionary entries for bestehen + aus vs. bestehen + auf. Dictionaries explain such prepositional combinations within the entry for the main word, not under the preposition’s own entry.
In other words, it’s often best to translate prepositions last, after you’ve analyzed the sentence structure and after understanding the surrounding context. Always start with the meaning of the entire construction, rather than how you would translate the preposition if it stood on its own, and only then express that meaning using English.
Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional Phrases
“Pre-positions,” as their name suggests, usually appear before nouns, pronouns, and sometimes adjectives. They mark the beginning of a prepositional phrase, and the corresponding noun marks the end of that phrase. Examples:
Der Junge steht hinter dem Stuhl.
The boy is standing behind the chair.
The boy is standing behind the chair.
Sie fährt in die Stadt mit ihrer Freundin.
She is travelling to town with her girlfriend.
She is travelling to town with her girlfriend.
Trotz schweren Unwetters kam das Flugzeug pünktlich an.
Despite bad weather, the airplane arrived on time.
Despite bad weather, the airplane arrived on time.
As you begin to read longer German sentences, it becomes very useful to recognize prepositional phrases and remember the absolutely reliablelaw that prepositional phrases are stand-alone, self-enclosed units of meaning (just as in English). All of the words enclosed between a preposition and its object (usually a noun) all belong within that phrase – and thus are not modifiers of anything outside of that phrase! Consider, for example:
Lange sinnte sie über seine frühen Gedichte in der Zeitschrift nach.
First you can easily identify über seine frühen Gedichte and in der Zeitschrift as two prepositional phrases. That leaves you with a much simpler sentence skeleton to work on: Lange sinnte sie … nach, or roughly: “For a long while she pondered ….” Next, moving your attention to the prepositional phrases, you can confidently take as an absolute law that, for example, seine frühen are words applying only to Gedichte. Even as you then add in the prepositional phrases, respect the solid work you’ve done so far on the skeleton; don’t let the addition of the prepositional phrases corrupt it. Likewise, as you add on the prepositional phrases to your skeleton, respect the integrity of the prepositional phrases. Thus: “For a long while she pondered his early poems in the journal,” or, equivalently: “She meditated for a long time on his early poems in the magazine.”
Word Order Exceptions
Notable exceptions to the “pre“-position placement of prepositions are – in certain situations – the prepositions entlang (along), gegenüber(opposite), gemäß (according to), and in even rarer cases nach(according to), and wegen (on account of / because of). Examples:
Er läuft die Straße entlang.
He runs along the street.
Diese Familie wohnt dem Hotel gegenüber.
This family lives opposite the hotel.
Meiner Meinung nach ist diese Aufgabe schwierig.
In my opinion this exercise is difficult.
Des Wetters wegen bleiben sie zu Hause.
Because of the weather, they are staying at home.
Er läuft die Straße entlang.
He runs along the street.
He runs along the street.
Diese Familie wohnt dem Hotel gegenüber.
This family lives opposite the hotel.
This family lives opposite the hotel.
Meiner Meinung nach ist diese Aufgabe schwierig.
In my opinion this exercise is difficult.
In my opinion this exercise is difficult.
Des Wetters wegen bleiben sie zu Hause.
Because of the weather, they are staying at home.
Because of the weather, they are staying at home.
Prepositional Cases
Cases
Cases
German prepositions govern different cases. That is, the phrase that follows them will be in either the accusative case, the dative case, or the genitive case. Memorizing which case each preposition governs is not critical for reading comprehension, but you should be aware that articles, pronouns, and adjectives will change form after the preposition. If you wish to know which case(s) a preposition governs, refer to your dictionary.
Rarely, you may encounter situations where case does matter for reading comprehension. The meaning of a certain group of prepositions – the so-called “two-way prepositions” (an, auf, hinter, neben, in, über, unter, vorand zwischen) – changes subtly depending on whether the accusative or dative case is used after them. If you see accusative case, then a changing condition is being described. If dative case, then a static, unchanging condition. Normally the rest of the sentence will clarify the preposition’s meaning for you, but in a few circumstances, mainly relating to physical movement or location, you may be left unsure, and you will need to consider the case as useful information. For example:
Rarely, you may encounter situations where case does matter for reading comprehension. The meaning of a certain group of prepositions – the so-called “two-way prepositions” (an, auf, hinter, neben, in, über, unter, vorand zwischen) – changes subtly depending on whether the accusative or dative case is used after them. If you see accusative case, then a changing condition is being described. If dative case, then a static, unchanging condition. Normally the rest of the sentence will clarify the preposition’s meaning for you, but in a few circumstances, mainly relating to physical movement or location, you may be left unsure, and you will need to consider the case as useful information. For example:
Er geht in das Haus.
He walks into the house.
He walks into the house.
Note the accusative case. Here a change is being described, from “not in the house” (before) to “in the house” (afterwards). Compare to:
Er geht in dem Haus.
He is walking, in the house.
He is walking, in the house.
Note the dative case. Here there is no change regarding the state of being “in the house.” In English we don’t have this clarity, so you may need to take extra care to communicate this in your translation. The second sentence could also be translated as: “He is in the house, walking,” or, using parentheses to acknowledge that we’re embellishing the sentence: “He walks (around) in the house.”
Reflexive Pronouns
A reflexive pronoun is a reference back to the subject. In the English sentence, “I dress myself,” the reflexive pronoun is “myself.” In German, just as with other pronouns, reflexive pronouns come in a greater variety than they do in English, and they reflect the case and number of the subject.
First let’s consider a third-person example, because in this case the distinctive word sich will be the reflexive pronoun. The separable-prefix verb anziehen is a verb that – only when used reflexively – means “to dress oneself / to get dressed.”
Er zieht sich an.
He dresses himself. / He gets dressed.
He dresses himself. / He gets dressed.
Jeden morgen ziehen sie sich an.
Every morning they dress themselves.
Every morning they dress themselves.
Contrast this with the non-reflexive use of anziehen (to put on an article of clothing):
Er zieht die Jacke an.
He puts on the jacket.
He puts on the jacket.
Because the meanings of verbs can be quite different when used reflexively, it is important to recognize when pronouns are reflexive or not.
The only instantly recognizable reflexive pronoun is sich. This pronoun is used for all third-person singular and third-person plural reflexive references. English equivalents of sich are: “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “themselves,” and “yourself” (formal only). Whereas the German reflexive pronoun for all other situations is simply the normal pronoun for that subject as you learned them in Unit 2.
For example, mich and uns are reflexive pronouns in the next two sentences, corresponding in each case to the sentence subjects ich and wir:
The only instantly recognizable reflexive pronoun is sich. This pronoun is used for all third-person singular and third-person plural reflexive references. English equivalents of sich are: “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “themselves,” and “yourself” (formal only). Whereas the German reflexive pronoun for all other situations is simply the normal pronoun for that subject as you learned them in Unit 2.
For example, mich and uns are reflexive pronouns in the next two sentences, corresponding in each case to the sentence subjects ich and wir:
Ich ziehe mich an.
I get dressed.
I get dressed.
Wir ziehen uns an.
We get dressed.
We get dressed.
If a direct object is also present in the sentence, the reflexive pronoun will appear in the dative form instead of the accusative form. Example:
Ich kaufe mir einen Hut.
I am buying myself a hat.
I am buying myself a hat.
Kaufst du dir morgen eine neue Armbanduhr?
Are you going to buy yourself a new watch tomorrow?
Are you going to buy yourself a new watch tomorrow?
Reflexive Verbs
There are some verbs in German that are always used with a reflexive pronoun and it may not be appropriate to translate that pronoun literally. Such verbs are indicated in dictionaries with a “sich” or “v.r.,” or “refl.” which means that the verb is used with a reflexive pronoun. Familiarize yourself with your dictionary describes these two common examples: sich + interessieren + für (to be interested in) and sich + erinnern + an (to remember).
Die Studenten interessieren sich für die Musik.
The students are interested in music.
The students are interested in music.
Ich erinnere mich immer an den Geburtstag meiner Mutter.
I always remember my mother’s birthday.
I always remember my mother’s birthday.
Note that many German verbs are only sometimes used reflexively, and then they have slightly different meanings accordingly. One example is anziehen, as demonstrated in the preceding section. German-English dictionaries will usually give translations of the reflexive meanings separately from the non-reflexive meanings of these verbs. Watch out for abbreviations such as refl. in your dictionary, and remember in any case that the German reflexive pronoun in the sentence will often not correspond to an English word – it is instead primarily a signal that the German verb is being used reflexively.
Position of nicht and other adverbs
Like all adverbs, and as with English adverbs, nicht modifies the sentence’s main verb unless it appears within a particular phrase, such as within a prepositional phrase, a noun phrase, etc. Also, like in English, adverbs in German placed before a word or phrase are thereby given emphasis that they modify that following word or phrase. Thus you can generally rely on your English-language sensibilities to interpret the role of German adverbs.
In German we do encounter a few uses of multiple, neighboring adverbs which we aren’t familiar with in English. When you do, keep the above word-order rule in mind. This can be particularly crucial with the adverb nicht when it precedes another adverb.
Die Stadt fühlt sich nicht besonders für Radfahrer verantwortlich.
The city does not feel particularly responsible for bicyclists.
The city does not feel particularly responsible for bicyclists.
In the above example, nicht is placed to emphasize that it modifies besonders. That leaves the meaning “not particularly” as the adverbial modifier of “for bicyclists.” Compare when the order of nicht and besonders is reversed, so that besonders now modifies nicht, which in turn modifies für Radfahrer:
Die Stadt fühlt sich besonders nicht für Radfahrer verantwortlich.
The city feels not responsible for bicyclists in particular.
(Literally: “especially not for bicyclists,” a phrase which would be clumsy in English in the context of this whole sentence.)
The city feels not responsible for bicyclists in particular.
(Literally: “especially not for bicyclists,” a phrase which would be clumsy in English in the context of this whole sentence.)
In summary: Remember to first determine what an adverb is modifying, by using this word-order rule, before translating. Adverbs modify their following word or phrase, if there is one and if that’s possible. Otherwise, it modifies the main verb of the entire sentence.
Noun Formation
Knowing how words are formed is most helpful in learning vocabulary and preparing yourself to be able to determine the meaning of new vocabulary. It is very useful to know that German forms nouns from verbs, from adjectives, and from adding suffixes to other nouns and adjectives among other ways. Study the following examples of word relationships, and as you work on translating the exercises in this book, look for possible connections between words. Check your guesses in the dictionary and list related words together for purposes of learning them more quickly. Remember, these are just some examples; there are thousands of words formed in these various ways.
Noun – Verb Relationships
Related to simple verbs:
| NOUN | VERB |
|---|---|
| das Band (string / band) | binden |
| die Bindung (bond / binding) | binden |
| die Fahrt (drive / ride) | fahren |
| die Reise (journey) | reisen |
| der Spruch (saying) | sprechen |
Related to verbs with prefixes:
| NOUN | VERB |
|---|---|
| die Abfahrt (departure) | abfahren |
| der Ausgang (exit) | ausgehen |
| der Eingang (entrance | eingehen |
| der Gewinn (gain / winning) | gewinnen |
| der Niedergang (decline) | niedergehen |
| der Übergang (crossing) | übergehen |
| der Umgang (circuit) | umgehen |
| der Verstand (reason) | verstehen |
| der Widerstand (resistance) | widerstehen |
Noun – Adjective Relationships
| NOUN | ADJECTIVE |
|---|---|
| die Breite (breadth) | breit |
| die Dicke (thickness) | dick |
| die Größe (size) | groß |
| die Länge (length) | lang |
| die Kälte (cold) | kalt |
| die Röte (redness) | rot |
Noun Suffixes
-
–chen and –lein (diminutives, always neuter)
Bettchen (little bed) Bett Städtlein (little town) Stadt -
–er denotes “doer” or “that which does”These are always masculine, but can take feminine form with -inending if appropriate (see number 4 below).
Musiker (musician) Musik Tänzer (dancer) tanzen Zeiger (pointer / indicator) zeigen -
–heit and –keit denotes “state of being” (always feminine)
Abhängigkeit (dependence) abhängig Aufmerksamkeit (attentiveness) aufmerksam Freiheit (freedom) frei Gesundheit (health) gesund Schönheit (beauty) schön -
–in denotes females
Lehrerin (female teacher) Lehrer Professorin (female professor) Professor -
–schaft denotes “relationship,” “collective state” (always feminine)
Bruderschaft (brotherhood) Bruder Freundschaft (friendship Freund Landschaft (landscape) Land Wissenschaft (science) wissen -
–tum denotes “condition”
der Reichtum (wealth / richness) reich das Wachstum (growth) wachsen -
–ung (always feminine)
Sammlung (collection) sammeln Vergrößerung (enlargement) vergrößern Zeitung (newspaper) Zeit
The topic of word formation will continue to be covered throughout later units to help you both with building vocabulary and with quickly guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words.