I. In this unit we are reviewing the prepositions encountered up to this point. This now includes almost all of the prepositions in common use. They are listed here according to the noun forms they occur with: accusative, dative, dative or accusative, and genitive.
1. Prepositions with the accusative:
bis durch für
gegen ohne um
These six are the most common prepositions with the accusative. A few others occur but are much less frequently encountered in speech.
2. Prepositions with the dative:
aus bei gegenUber
mit nach seit von zu
These eight prepositions occur very commonly in speech. Remernber that gegenUber may appear either before or after the noun it is associated with. Other prepositions with the dative which you may encounter later on are of generally less common occurrence.
3.
Prepositions with the dative or accusative:
an auf hinter in
neben über unter vor zwischen
These nine prepositions are the only ones in the language which may occur either with the dative or the accusative. There are no others. Remember that in referrinq to locations these are two-way prepositions, their occurrence with the dative signifying astate of rest and their occurrence with the accusative signifying the goal or end-point of motion. In other uses however they occur either with the dative or with the accusative, but the choice is not related at all to the choice of dative or accusative in locations.
4.
Prepositions with the genitive:
diesseits
jenseits wahrend
Of these wahrend is the most common. There are a few other prepositions with the genitive which occur fairly frequently in speech. We will encounter them in following units.
11. Location "at" a place, particularly at a place of business or professional activity, can be indicated by four different prepositions in German: an, auf, bei and in. Which one is used depends on the particular place or building in question and sometimes on the activity.
Someone is at the door. He's a professor at the university. She's a secretary at the union. I was at the shoemaker's this morning. We were at the station at ten o'clock. I met her at a party. I was at the town hall and was able to have my application processed right away. We saw the old meeting rooms at the town hall.
Jemand ist an der TUe. Er ist Professor an der Universitat. Sie ist Sekretar in bei der Gewerkschaft. Ich war heute vormittag beim Schuster. Wir waren um zehn Uhr auf dem Bahnhof. Ich habe sie auf einer Gesellschaft kennengelernt. Ich war auf dem Rathaus und konnte meinen Antrag gleich bearbeiten lassen. Wir haben die alten Tagungsräume im Rathaus gesehen.
Have you eaten at this restaurant yet?
Haben Sie schon in diesem Restaurant gegessen?
Likewise going "to" a particular place can be indicated by four different prepositions: an, auf, in and zu.
Mr. Schmidt came to the door. I went to the shoemaker's this morning. We went {in)to the station at ten o'clock. We drove to the station. We can go to the 'Hofbrauhaus' . Or shall we drive to the 'Ratskeller'?
Herr Schmidt ist an die Tür gekommen. Ich ging heute vormittag zum Schuster. Wir gingen um zehn Uhr auf den Bahnhof. Wir sind zum Bahnhof gefahren. Wir können ins Hofbrauhaus gehen. Oder wollen wir zum Ratskeller fahren?
In a few cases two or more prepositions can be used interchangeably. Sometimes the use of a different preposition implies a slightly different situation. For the most part however certain prepositions are associated by preference with certain specific locations. associations will be sumrnarized in the drills of this unit.
The most cornmon of these
111. The prepositions ~, in, seit, nach, vor and um have all occurred in time expressions. Note that only um is followed by an accusative form. In this use an, in, seit, nach and vor all occur with the dative.
Die Aufführung fing um acht Uhr an. Um diese Zeit gibt es sehr wenig Verkehr. wir fahren in einer Woche. An dem Tag habe ich schon eine Verabredung. wir kenne ihn seit Jahren. Er kam nach dem Essen zu uns. Ich habe ihn vor einer Stunde gesehen.
The performance began at eight o'clock. At this time there is very little traffic. We're going in a week. I already have an engagement for (' on I) that day. We've known him for years. He came to see us after supper. I saw him an hour ago.
IV. The prepositions bis and gegenüber are sometimes cornbined with other prepositions. The most frequent cornbinations are bis zu and qeqenUber von, although bis may occur in cornbination with several other prepositions. The form of the noun following depends on the preposition irnmediately preceding it. Bis zu and gegenüber von are thus both followed by a dative form:
Wir bleiben bis zum Zwanzigsten in Berlin. Gegenüber von der Kirche ist eine kleine Apotheke.
We're staying in Berlin until the twentieth. Opposite the church there's a little pharmacy.
V. Verbs are frequently accompanied by prepositions in both German and English. Often this use corresponds exactly in the two languages:
Wann ziehen Sie in Ihr neues Haus ein? Verbinden Sie mich bitte mit Herrn Bauer. Sie arbeitet für das Rote Kreuz. Fangen wir mit dem Teppich an.
When are you moving into your new house? Please connect me with Mx. Bauer. She works for the Red Cross. Let's begin with the rug.
Frequently, however, a German verb is accompanied by apreposition which does not correspond to an English preposition, or the cornbination has a different meaning from that of the verb and preposition separately. association of a particular preposition and a particular verb is an arbitrary one, and the VERB-PREPOSITION COMPLEX must be learned as a unit. We noted some of these in Unit 16:
This
schreiben an (acc) sich gewöhnen an (acc) grenzen an (acc) sich freuen auf (acc) zurückgehen auf (acc)
to write t~ (sorneone) to get used to to border on to look forward to to have (its) origin in, be traced back to
V:r:ERHUNDERTEINUNDSIEBZIG ..
471
Almost all German prepositions occur in VERB-PREPOSITION COMPLEXES. In addition to the above we have encountered these other combinations:
an vorbeikommen an (dat) sich wenden an (ace)
to come by, pass to turn to, apply to, go to
auf ankommen auf (ace) blicken auf (ace) warten auf (ace)
to depend on to look toward to wait for
aus kommen aus
to come from
gegen einwenden gegen
to make objections to
mit fahren mit rechnen mit sprechen mit
to go by, take (a vehicle) to count on to talk to
nach klingeln nach sich sehnen nach
to ring for to long for
um bitten um sich kümmern um es handelt sich um
to ask for, request to bother about, take care of it is about, the matter at hand is
von abhängen von halten von
to depend on to tlünk of
zu passen zu ausreichen zu
to go with, match to be sufficient for
The form of the noun following such verb-preposition complexes depends upon the preposition. Where two possibilities occur, as with an and auf above, the noun form (i.e., accusative or dative) is indicated as part of the combination, and this information must be memorized along with the complex itself and its meaning.
B. CONJUNCTIONS - SUMMARY AND REVIEW
I. types - co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
Conjunctions were discussed in Unit 10 where we noted that German has two
1. Co-ordinating conjunctions join two or more words, phrases or sentences. These are the ones we have had:
aber oder
sondern und
We have also referred to co-ordinating conjunctions as sentence connectors. Remember that when they joir. sentences together word order is not affected. They are followed by normal word order.
Es war nicht nur der Film zu entwickeln, sondern meine Vergrösserungen müssten auch fertig sein.
2. Subordinating conjunctions introduce a subordinate or dependent clause, apart of the sentence which could not stand by itself. Here are all the subordinating conjunctions we have encountered to this point:
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VIERHUNDERTZWEIUNDSIEBZIG
als bevor bis da dass
ehe nachdem ob seitdem wenn
We have referred to these words as clause introducers. Remember that, as such, they are always followed by clause word order.
Wenn wir an einer Eisenwarenhandlung vorbeikommen, wollte ich mir Hammer und Zange und einen Schraubenzieher kaufen.
In addition to the subordinatin9 conjunctions, clause introducers also include the relative pronouns and the question words.
C. INFINITIVES - SUMMARY AND REVIEW
I. discussion has referred only to the basic, simple infinitive form, also called the present infinitive. Both the perfect phrase and the passive phrase have infinitive forms, however, which can be referred to as perfect infinitives and passive infinitives. They consist of a past participle plus the infinitive form of the auxiliaries haben, sein or werden. Here is a summary of infinitive forms:
The form of the infinitive was first noted in Unit 2, and subsequent
(zu) kaufen (to) buy gekauft (zu) haben (to) have bought gekauft (zu) werden (to) be bought
Present infinitive Perfect infinitive gegangen (zu) sein
(zu) gehen (to) go (to) have gone
11. verb phrases.
Infinitives occur with zu in infinitive phrases, and without zu in certain
1. Infinitive phrases with zu are introduced by prepositions, such as ohne and um:
Ich gehe nicht gern fort, ohne etwas gegessen zu haben.
They also occur after a great number of verbs in German.
Ich habe dagegen nichts einzuwenden. Wir brauchen bloss über die Strasse ~ gehen.
Some of the most common verbs we have encountered, which may be followed by infinitive phrases, are:
anfangen bitten beabsichtigen brauchen beginnen haben
helfen vergessen hoffen versuchen sein vorhaben
2. Infinitives without zu occur in verb phrases with the auxiliary verbs dürfen, können, möcht;(n), müssen, sollen, wollen, werden and lassen.
Der Buchh~ndler wird Sie gern beraten. Ich habe mir überlegt, welches Wörterbuch ich kaufen sollte. Wir können uns verschiedene Apparate vorführen lassen.
They may also occur in phrases with the verbs bleiben, hören, lernen and sehen.
Die Ruine soll als Mahnmal stehen bleiben. Das Auto blieb an der Ecke stehen. Ich höre ihn im Badezimmer singen. Wir lernten Herrn und Frau Schulze in Deutschland kennen. Sehen Sie den Handwerker dort vor dem Haus stehen?
The ruins are to be left standing ('remain standing') as a solemn reminder. The car stopped ('remained standing') at the corner. I hear him singing in the bathroom. We met ('learned to know') Mx. and Mxs. Schulze in Germany. 00 you see the workman standing in front of the house there?
You will note that this use of the infinitive in German often corresponds to the use of a verb form in -ing in English.
3. The verb lassen occurs with two different meanings in phrases with an infinitive.
1) Ich muss einen Film entwickeln lassen. 2) Kann ich meinen Wagen hinter dem Haus hier stehen lassen? The first example shows the use of lassen in a causative sense, meaning, that is, to have or get something done or to get or ~ someone to do something. The infinitive with lassen in this construction is often equivalent to a past participle in English. The meaning of lassen in the second example is simply leave. Here the infinitive with lassen corresponds to an English verb form in -ing. Note too that in both languages this form may be omitted. Lassen is then the complete verb, not an auxiliary.
i have to qet a film developed. Can I leave my car (standinq) behind the house here?
Lass' das Bild an der Wand (hängen) . Er lässt seine Bücher immer auf dem Tisch (liegen).
Leave the picture (hanging) on the wall. He always leaves his books (lying) on the table.
Er hat seine Bücher auf dem Tisch liegen lassen. but Er hat seine Bücher auf dem Tisch gelassen.
He left his books lying ::m the table. ie left his books on the table.
111. in German, often equivalent to an English verb or noun form in -ing. The infinitive as a das-noun occurs frequently after prepositions.
In unit 11 we pointed out how the infinitive may be used as a das-noun
Ich komme gerade vom Schwimmen.
l've just come from a swim ('from swimming').
The use of the infinitive as a no~n in this construction in German is equivalent sometimes to an English verb or noun form in -ing, sometimes to a different noun, sometimes to an infinitive and sometimes to a claust in English. Note the following exarnples:
Ich möchte beim Lesen nicht gestört werden. Sie ist beim Essen. Hast du zum Reparieren des Wasserhahns das richtige Werkzeug da? Mit dem Entwickeln des Filmes hattE ich kein Glück. Nach dem Lösen der Fahrkarte brachte ich meinen Koffer zur Gepäckaufgabe. Während des Auspackens brachte der Page einen Brief. Durch das viele Waschen gingen die Hemden kaputt.
I don't wish to be disturbed while I'm reading. She's (in the process of) eating. 00 you have the right tools there to fix the water faucet? I had no luck in developing the film. After qettinq my ticket I took my suitcase to the baggage room. While we (they. etc,) were unpacking the bellhop brought a letter. As a result of all the washing the shirts wore out.