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WORD GRAMMAR
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Verb
- Conjugation in indicative
- Person and number
- Tenses
- Voice
- Mood
- Verb categories
- Valency
- Semantic categories of verbs
- Finite / non-finite verb forms
- Noun
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Article
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Particle
- Interjection
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Verb
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SENTENCE GRAMMAR
- Clause types
- Complex clauses
- Constituents of a sentence
- Sentence structure
- Word order in a sentence
- Negation
Prepositions
K10
Words like the following are called prepositions.
für, mit, an, von, in, wegen, zu, statt, ohne, bis
Prepositions are non-inflected words that usually accompany other words in order to express a temporal, causal, modal or spatial relationship between two facts.
Examples | |
Der Zug fährt um 8 Uhr ab. | temporal |
Er ist aus beruflichen Gründen auf Reisen. | causal |
Paul ist zu Fuß zur Arbeit gegangen. | modal |
Das Buch liegt auf dem Nachttisch. | spatial |
Prepositions are combined with a noun or a pronoun -more seldom with an adverb- thus creating a prepositional phrase.
Examples | |
Ich wohne mit meiner Freundin. | + noun |
Ich wohne mit ihr. | + pronoun |
Ich wohne ab heute mit meiner Freundin. | + adverb |
In the German language, prepositions usually precede the word with which they are combined. However, there are certain prepositions that can either precede or follow the word with which they are combined, others that only follow and finally, others that stand both before and after the word with which they are combined.
Examples | |
auf der Straße | before the word they are combined with |
gegenüber dem Rathaus | before or after the word they are combined with |
dem Rathaus gegenüber | |
der Wahrheit zuliebe | after the word they are combined with |
um seiner selbst willen | The word they are combined with is placed in-between the prepositions |
Prepositions determine the case of the noun or the pronoun they accompany. There are prepositions that govern only one case and others that govern two.
Examples | |
für meine Mutter | accusative |
mit meiner Mutter | dative |
trotz meines Willens | genitive |
auf dem Tisch | accusative or dative |
auf den Tisch |
Prepositions that govern two cases have a different meaning, depending on the case they govern.
Examples | |
Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. | accusative |
Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch. | dative |
The use of prepositions or prepositional phrases can be either free or bound. Free use refers to prepositional phrases that function as adverbials; bound use refers to prepositional phrases that function as objects and depend on a verb, an adjective or a noun.
Examples | |
der Mann ohne Namen | free use |
im Wald spazieren gehen | |
auf den Bus warten | bound use |
mit der Leistung zufrieden sein | |
die Angst vor der Dunkelheit |
In conclusion, some prepositions can be combined with certain forms of the definite article.
Examples | ||
in + dem | im | merged forms |
von + dem | vom | |
zu + der | zur |