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When you are using prepositions of place, you need to pay attention to two things:
Does your sentence answer the question Wo …? (location) or the question Wohin …?
(direction)?
Is the preposition followed by the accusative or the dative?
Two-case prepositions
Two-case prepositions are so named, because the case of the following noun can change:
a) Location: Wo …?
Two-case prepositions in / an / unter / über / auf / vor / hinter / neben / zwischen + dative
b) Direction: Wohin …?
Fixed-case prepositions
All other prepositions or prepositional phrases have a fixed case, i.e. they are followed by one
case only, usually the dative or accusative. For example, with these prepositions the dative
can also be used to answer the question Wohin …?. Here are some examples:
a) zu + dative
When you want to stress the end of a route, you use bis zu:
Ihr geht geradeaus bis zum Bahnhof. Dann geht ihr links in die Hauptstraße.
b) an + dative + vorbei
c) durch + accusative
Two-case prepositions are so-called because they can change the case of the following
noun, sometimes to the dative and sometimes to the accusative.
a) Location: Wo …?
Two-case prepositions in / an / unter / über / auf / vor / hinter / neben / zwischen + dative
b) Direction: Wohin …?
VNegation: nicht/kein
Negation with nicht
The word nicht can be used to negate an entire sentence or a word or group of words.
If the word nicht is used to negate a word or group of words, then the word nicht is placed
directly before the word it is negating.
Examples:
Adverbs:
Isst Inge gerne Birnen? – Nein, Inge isst nicht gerne Birnen.
If an entire sentence is being negated, then nicht comes at or near the end of the sentence.
Isst Inge die Birnen? – Nein, Inge isst die Birnen nicht.
Möchte Inge die Birnen essen? – Nein, sie möchte die Birnen nicht essen.
With kein, we negate nouns with indefinite articles and most nouns with no article.
The word kein changes form. In the singular, it takes the form of the indefinite article.
Nominative
Occasionally, there is a second noun in the nominative in a sentence, for example with the
verb sein:
Accusative
Many verbs need an object for the sentence to make sense. The object is usually in the
accusative case.
haben, lernen, brauchen, anrufen, essen, trinken, nehmen, suchen, kennen, machen, lieben,
hassen, besuchen, besichtigen, bestellen, bekommen, mögen, putzen, kontrollieren,
vorbereiten, waschen, öffnen, schließen, reparieren …
In the accusative case, only the masculine article changes. The other articles and nouns stay
the same.
Nominative Accusative
ein einen
kein keinen
eine eine
keine keine
ein ein
kein kein
- -
keine keine
das Subjekt: The subject is a person or thing that is active in the sentence or is the focus of
interest; it is also called "Satzgegenstand", and is usually a noun or a pronoun.
das Objekt: The object of the sentence describes a person or thing that is the target of an
action or event. It is also called "Satzergänzung", and is usually a noun or a pronoun.
A noun can have different functions within a sentence. It can, for example, be either a subject
or an object. Depending on what function the noun has, its form can change. This is most
noticeable by its article. In German, there are four different forms or categories (cases),
called Fälle or Kasus.
der Nominativ: The subject is always in the nominative case. The articles take the form:
der/ein, die/eine, das/ein, die/-.
der Akkusativ: Most objects are in the accusative case. The articles take the form: den/einen,
die/eine, das/ein, die/-.