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P r E p o s I T i o n s
 

 
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OBJECTIVE:
Learn a difficult area of any language ... prepositions!
TASK:
Memorize! Study! Learn! ... and memorize some more!
PERPLEXED?
It might just be gas ...
Choose an area to study:
Accusative prepositions
Dative prepositions
Two-way prepositions
Genitive prepositions

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RECOMMENDED STUDY

Learn all of these prepositions at one sitting as a single sentence! Just say them like this. You're saying: "bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, um."


RECOMMENDED READING
Accusative Prepositions

The ACCUSATIVE PREPOSITIONS are always followed by the accusative case. The best way to deal with these is to simply repeat each preposition with the following mantra: *(prep) den, (prep) die, (prep) das, (prep) die. These correlate to the order of noun gender as you will learn them!

When you are learning nouns, you will learn them by their gender:

Masculine "DER" --- Feminine "DIE" --- Neuter "DAS" --- Plural "DIE" (all genders)

Once you realize that the noun you're dealing with is masculine, you'll be ready to respond with a "den" after these prepositions - after just having practiced as suggested below. The same will occur for feminine and neuter.

This will begin to make sense and actually gell for you when you grasp the awareness of noun gender and its importance. This is an inherent "natural" aspect of the German language.


Bis
up to, until
*Practice: bis den, bis die, bis das, bis die
... bis nächste Woche
... until next week
... bis den Bahnhof
... up to the train station
... bis die zweite Straße
... up to the second street
... bis das Hotel
... up to the hotel
... bis die Bäume
... up to the trees

Durch
through, per
*Practice: durch den, durch die, durch das, durch die
... durch die Nacht
... through(out) the night
... durch den Tunnel
... through the tunnel
... durch die Straße
... through the street
... durch das Radio
... per the radio
... durch eine Bombe
... per (by means of) a bomb
... durch meine Mutter
... through (by means of) my Mother

Für
for
*Practice: für den, für die, für das, für die
... für die Kinder
... for the kids
... für den Mann
... for the man
... für die Frau
... for the lady (woman)
... für das Ding
... for the (that) thing
... für eine Weile
... for a while
... für mich
... for me

Gegen
against, around (time)
*Practice: gegen den, gegen die, gegen das, gegen die
... gegen Neujahr
... around New Year's
... gegen den Chef
... against the boss
... gegen die Idee
... against the idea
... gegen das Ding
... against the (that) thing
... gegen die Übeltäter
... against the villains
... gegen Mitternacht
... around midnight

Ohne
without
*Practice: ohne den, ohne die, ohne das, ohne die
... ohne Gepäck
... without any baggage
... ohne den Bruder
... without (his) brother
... ohne die Tochter
... without (his/her) daughter
... ohne das Geld
... without the money
... ohne Kinder
... without children (childless)
... ohne Worte
... without words (speechless)

Um
around, at (time)
*Practice: um den, um die, um das, um die
... um Mitternacht
... right at midnight
... um den Berg
... around the mountain
... um die Stadt
... around town
... um das Dörfchen
... around the little village
... um euch
... around y'all
... um zehn Uhr
... at 10:00