Which German Prepositions Take Akkusativ vs Dativ?
Some German prepositions always take Akkusativ, some always take Dativ, and nine special ones — the Wechselpräpositionen — switch between the two depending on whether you’re describing movement or a fixed location. Once you know which group a preposition belongs to, the case that follows becomes largely automatic rather than a fresh decision every time.
Always Akkusativ
A short, memorisable list — these never take Dativ, regardless of context:
durch, für, gegen, ohne, um
Ich gehe durch den Park. (through the park) Das Geschenk ist für meinen Bruder. (for my brother) Wir sind gegen den Plan. (against the plan) Ohne dich (without you) Um die Ecke (around the corner)
Always Dativ
Another fixed, learnable list — always Dativ, no exceptions:
aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu (plus a few less common ones: außer, gegenüber)
Ich komme aus der Schweiz. (from Switzerland) Ich wohne bei meiner Familie. (at/with my family) Ich fahre mit dem Bus. (by bus) Nach der Arbeit (after work) Seit einem Jahr (for a year, since) Ein Geschenk von meiner Mutter (from my mother) Ich gehe zu dir. (to you/your place)
The nine Wechselpräpositionen (switching prepositions)
These nine switch between Akkusativ and Dativ depending on whether the sentence describes movement toward a destination (Akkusativ) or a fixed location/state (Dativ):
an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen
The test: can you ask “wohin?” (where to?) — if yes, it’s Akkusativ. Can you ask “wo?” (where, as a fixed location?) — if yes, it’s Dativ.
Ich hänge das Bild an die Wand. (movement — I’m hanging the picture onto the wall) → Akkusativ Das Bild hängt an der Wand. (fixed state — the picture is [already] on the wall) → Dativ
Ich gehe in die Küche. (movement into the kitchen) → Akkusativ Ich bin in der Küche. (I am [located] in the kitchen) → Dativ
Die Katze springt auf den Tisch. (movement onto the table) → Akkusativ Die Katze sitzt auf dem Tisch. (sitting, a fixed position on the table) → Dativ
Why this group specifically confuses learners
The Wechselpräpositionen are the single biggest source of ongoing case confusion past the beginner stage, because the same preposition, the same noun, and often a similar-sounding verb can require different cases depending purely on whether motion is involved — a distinction English doesn’t grammatically mark this way at all. English “in the kitchen” and “into the kitchen” use different prepositions to signal the difference; German uses the same preposition and shifts the case instead, which is the part that takes real practice to internalise.
This distinction is genuinely hard to apply correctly at speaking speed even once you understand the rule on paper — it takes repeated, corrected practice in real sentences to become automatic. SipLingo corrects your preposition and case usage as you talk, in your own language. Try it free →
A shortcut that helps in the moment
If you’re mid-sentence and unsure, a fast mental check: am I describing something arriving somewhere, or something already there? Arriving → Akkusativ. Already there → Dativ. This maps directly onto the wohin/wo test above but is often faster to apply in the middle of actually speaking, since it doesn’t require consciously forming the question first.
Common verbs that pair predictably with each case
Verbs of motion (gehen, fahren, legen, stellen, hängen when describing the act of placing something) tend to trigger the Akkusativ side of Wechselpräpositionen, since they inherently describe movement toward a destination. Verbs of state (sein, liegen, stehen, hängen when describing something already positioned) tend to trigger the Dativ side. Noticing this verb pattern alongside the preposition itself gives you a second signal to cross-check your case choice against.
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Two-word combinations worth knowing directly
Certain preposition-plus-article combinations contract into single words in everyday speech, and knowing these helps both comprehension and natural-sounding production: in dem becomes im, in das becomes ins, an dem becomes am, zu dem becomes zum, zu der becomes zur, von dem becomes vom. These contractions are extremely common in spoken German — using the uncontracted form isn’t wrong, but it sounds noticeably more formal or stilted than natural conversation typically calls for.
A short list of fixed verb-preposition pairs worth memorising as units
Some German verbs pair with a specific preposition and case as a fixed unit, independent of the general Wechselpräposition rules — these are worth learning together rather than deriving from first principles each time: warten auf (+ Akk, to wait for), sich freuen auf (+ Akk, to look forward to), sich freuen über (+ Akk, to be happy about something that happened), Angst haben vor (+ Dativ, to be afraid of), denken an (+ Akk, to think of/about). These fixed pairings appear constantly in everyday German and are genuinely worth memorising as set phrases rather than reasoning through the general rules each time.
Official sources
For the official details and the latest updates, see:
- Duden: Duden for learners: prepositions and case – Which prepositions take Akkusativ or Dativ; Wo? vs Wohin?
- IDS Mannheim (grammis): grammis: im See or in den See? (Dativ vs Akkusativ) – Location (Dativ) vs direction (Akkusativ) with two-way prepositions
Frequently asked questions
Is über Akkusativ or Dativ? Über is a Wechselpräposition — it takes Akkusativ when describing movement over or across something (Ich fliege über die Stadt — flying over the city, in motion) and Dativ when describing a fixed position above something (Die Lampe hängt über dem Tisch — the lamp hangs above the table, stationary).
How many prepositions always take Dativ in German? The core fixed list is aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu — seven commonly cited prepositions, with außer and gegenüber sometimes added as less frequent additions to the same always-Dativ group.
What’s the easiest way to remember the Wechselpräpositionen? Learning them as a group of nine (an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen) alongside the wohin/wo (motion/location) test tends to work better than memorising each one in isolation, since the underlying logic is shared across all nine.
Do native speakers ever get these prepositions wrong? Rarely for native speakers, since the motion/location distinction is deeply automatic from childhood exposure — but it remains one of the most persistent sources of small errors for learners well into advanced levels, purely because English doesn’t mark the distinction the same way.
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