A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in "the man on the platform," "she arrived after dinner," "what did you do it for?"

They are very useful words that help form sentences such as "to", "from", "after", "for", "with", "at", "on", "in", "behind", "infront of", "of", "between", "through", "along", "round", "above", "inside of", "outside of".

There are 4 groups of prepositions in German;

1. Those that take the Dative case http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat.htm
2. Those that take either the Dative or Accusative case (dual prepositions) http://german.about.com/library/blcase_acc.htm & http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat.htm
3. Those that take the Accusative case http://german.about.com/library/blcase_acc.htm
4. Those that take the Genitive case http://german.about.com/library/blcase_gen.htm

1) The Dative prepositions include the following

aus	-	out of, from
von	-	from
zu	-	to
nach	-	to, after, according to
bei	-	at, with
seit	-	for, since
gegenüber	-	opposite
mit	-	with
außer	-	besides, except for

2) The group of prepositions that take the Dative or Accusative (Dual prepositions or DRAM)

This group of prepositions takes the Dative when there is no movement involved (at rest), and takes the accusative when there is movement involved. DRAM = Dative Rest, Accusative Movement, which is a good way to remember when you use which case. They are known as dual prepositions because they can take either the Dative case or the Accusative case.

Some prepositions and definitive article can be contracted. For example “in das” becomes “ins” and “in dem” becomes “im”.

These prepositions include the following;

an	-	on, at
auf	-	on
in	-	in
neben	-	next to
vor	-	in front of, before
hinter	-	behind
zwischen	-	between
über	-	over, above
unter	-	under, below

3) The Accusative prepositions include the following;

bis	-	as far as, until, up to, to the
durch	-	through
entlang	-	along
für	-	for
gegen	-	against, towards
ohne	-	without
um	-	round
wider	-	against

4) The genitive prepostioins include the following;

außerhalb	-	outside of
innerhalb	-	inside of
diesseits	-	on the side of
jenseits	-	on that side of
statt, anstatt	-	instead of
trotz	-	in spite of, despite
um ... willen	-	for the sake of
während	-	during, in the time of, whilst
wegen	-	because of, on account of

Example sentences

Sie wohnt der Kirche gegenüber - she lives opposite the church
Ich gehe ans Fenster - I go to the window
Er steht am Fenster - He stands at the window
Die Katze liegt auf dem Tisch - The cat lays on the table (horizontal at rest)
Die Katze springt auf den Tisch - The cat jumps on to the table (horizontally with movement)

Die Kavallerie den Weg entlang - The cavalry comes along the path
trotz seiner Krankheit - despite his illness
um Gottes willen - for God’s sake
um Himmels willen - for heaven’s sake
Ich gehe ins Büro (in das) - I go in to the office

Ich bin im Büro (in dem) - I am in the office
Er hängt den Mantel an die Wand - He hangs his coat on (to) the wall
Der Mantel hängt an der Wand - The coat hangs on the wall
Das Auto fährt vor das Haus - The car drives in front of the house
Das Auto wartet vor dem Haus - The car waits in front of the house

Das Kind geht hinter den Stuhl - The child goes behind the chair
Das Kind steht hinter dem Tisch - The child stands behind the chair
Sie legt den Brief under das Buch - She puts the letter under the book
Der Brief ist unter dem Buch - The letter is under the book
Sie setzt sich neben den Doktor - She sits herself next to the doctor

Sie sitzt neben dem Doktor - She is sitting next to the doctor
Der Kellner stellt den Tisch zwischen die zwei Damen - The waitor places the table between the two women
Der Tisch steht zwischen dem Stuhl und der Wand - The table stands between the chair and the wall

How to learn?

If you’ve got an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, why not try out DE Prepositions http://www.kevsapps.co.uk/de-prepositions. This is a useful app which gives all the information above, plus a set of flashcards which you can use to help learn the prepositions.

It also keeps track of how well you are doing at learning each preposition, and gives you the flexibility to turn on and off each preposition group, or individual prepositions; in order to focus your learning, and to turn off prepositions as you have remembered them off by heart.

The flashcards can ask for either the German translation or the english meaning. You can also get the flashcards to test you in a set order, or randomly.

If you are interested in other German learning applications or applications by Kev’s Apps please subscribe to the mailing list at http://www.kevsapps.co.uk/subscribe.