The main five accusative prepositions in German are durch meaning through, für meaning for, ohne meaning without, um meaning around, and gegen meaning against, though a few other prepositions are sometimes also included in this list. Accusative prepositions are prepositions (words like “in,” “under,” or “with”) that are used before a noun or pronoun in the accusative case.
Accusative Preposition
Noun/Pronoun
(accusative case)
In this post, we’ll review how to use nouns and pronouns in the accusative case and go over when you should use each of the German accusative prepositions in a sentence. Ready to have a look? Let’s dive in!
How to use accusative prepositions in German?
Accusative prepositions in German are used before nouns or pronouns in the accusative case.
Accusative Preposition
Accusative Case
In German, nouns in the accusative case usually look just like their dictionary forms. However, other words that relate to nouns, like articles, possessive adjectives, pronouns, or adjectives, do change their form to reflect the noun’s case. You can see the accusative forms of some of these words illustrated below:
| Type of word | Noun's Gender or Number | Translation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Definite article | den | die | die | die | the |
Indefinite article | einen | eine | ein_ | – | a(n) |
Negated indefinite article | keinen | keine | kein_ | keine | no |
Possessive adjective | mein_ | meine | mein_ | meine | my |
Possessive pronoun | meinen | meine | meins | meine | mine |
Adjective after a definite article | guten | gute | gute | guten | (the) good |
Adjective NOT after a definite article | guten | gute | gutes | gute | (a) good |
| Personal pronouns (accusative) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mich Translation: me | Informal: dich Translation: you |
| uns Translation: us | informal: euch Translation: you | sie Translation: them |
Formal: Sie Translation: you | Formal: Sie Translation: you | ||||
Accusative prepositions + ‘das’
Some accusative prepositions can combine with the definite article das meaning the (neuter) to become a single word. Therefore, in spoken German, you will occasionally encounter words like:
durchs
=durch
das
fürs
=für
das
ums
=um
das
Here is how that might look in a sentence:
What are the accusative prepositions in German?
There are only five accusative prepositions which are commonly used in German:
Additionally, many grammar books also list the following two words as accusative prepositions:
The prepositions bis and entlang are special because they behave a little differently from the other five. We will explain them further below.
German also has a few other accusative prepositions like je meaning per and wider meaning against, but these are quite rarely used. You can find information on these in our full list of accusative prepositions with examples.
When to use the accusative prepositions in German?
Like most German prepositions, there isn’t a 1-to-1 correspondence between the German accusative prepositions and English prepositions, so it’s helpful to look at all the uses of each one. Let’s go through them!
‘Durch’
The German preposition durch is used in two cases:
For movement “through” or “across” something:
accusativeSie läuft durch den Wald.Translation: She’s walking through the forest.To introduce the do-er (“agent”) of a passive verb, usually translated as “by”:
accusativeDas Haus wurde durch den Wind zerstört.Translation: The house has been destroyed by the wind.
‘Für’
The preposition für is typically used to introduce someone you’re doing something “for” or “on behalf of”:
‘Gegen’
The typical meaning of gegen is “against,” but sometimes it’ll be translated using a slightly different English preposition, like “into.”
However, when referring to time, we’ll usually translate gegen as “around,” instead.
‘Ohne’
Use the preposition ohne if you lack something and want to express the meaning “without”:
'Um'
The preposition um can be used in three different contexts:
For a place, meaning “around”:
accusativeIch mag die Berge um mich herum.Translation: I like the mountains all around me.For a time, meaning “at”:
accusativeLasst uns um sieben Uhr treffen!Translation: Let’s meet at 7 o’clock!For a topic, meaning “about” (only in certain contexts):
accusativeUm welchen Ort geht es in der Geschichte?Translation: Which place is the story about?
‘Bis’
As we said before, bis is different from the other five prepositions above. First, it tends to be used much more often as a conjunction than as a preposition. Here’s an example:
Second, as a preposition, bis is often used as part of the multi-word prepositions bis auf or bis zu, both of which mean “(up) to.” We use the accusative case after bis auf, but the dative case after bis zu.
- accusativeDas Konzert war bis auf den letzten Platz ausverkauft.Translation: The concert was sold out to the last seat.
- dativeIch begleite dich noch bis zum Bahnhof.Translation: I’ll take you (all the way) to the station.
When bis is used as an accusative preposition on its own, it always introduces a deadline or stopping point in the future and is translated as “until” or “by.” In this use, it can never be followed by an article! Here are two examples:
‘Entlang’
The meaning of entlang is “along.” This preposition is special because it only requires the accusative case when it follows the noun. Linguists call words like this postpositions.
In contrast, when it comes before the noun, it requires the genitive case or, more rarely, the dative case, as in the second example below:
Summing up
As you can see, accusative prepositions in German are not so difficult! You have seen the seven most common ones above. If you want to review these and see a few less common ones, check out our table of German accusative prepositions!
Here are the most important take-aways from today’s article:
Accusative prepositions are used before nouns or pronouns in the accusative case.
There are seven accusative prepositions that are used frequently in German: durch, für, ohne, um, gegen, bis, and entlang.
There is not a one-to-one correspondence between the meanings of the prepositions in German and English, so it is better to always learn them in context.
Now, are you ready to practice? Check out these German accusative prepositions activities! Happy learning!
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