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On this page you'll learn everything about verbs with preposition complements. Complements are grammatically necessary parts of a sentence. If you aren't sure what that means, take a look at this page on complements in the German language. You should already understand the concept of complements in order to understand German Verbs with Prepositions
German Verbs with Prepositions (Verben mit Präpositionen)
Some verbs require prepositions to make sense and be grammatically correct.
Without the prepositions the verb doesn‘t work or has a different meaning.
The preposition always determines the case (dative/accusative/genitive).
Examples:
- „Ich interessiere mich für das neue iPhone.“
(The verb "sich interessieren" always uses the preposition "für." Without "für," the sentence is not correct.) - „Ich passe auf den Verkehr auf.“
(The verb "aufpassen" always uses the preposition "auf." Without "auf," the sentence is not correct.)
Some verbs even require two complements with two different prepositions:
- „Ich spreche mit meiner Mutter über meinen Bruder.“
- „Er bedankt sich bei ihr für das Geburtstagsgeschenk.“
("Sprechen" and "bedanken" have 2 complements. When one piece of information is unknown or obvious, we can leave it out. The prepositions determine the case.)
Questions with Prepositions
When formulating questions with verbs that use a prepositional complement, keep a few things in mind. First, when asking for the complement with the preposition, we must also include the preposition in the question.
Questions about People:
Translation for direct comparison: For whom do we wait? Who are we waiting for? / About whom are you thinking? / With whom do you dance? / With whom is he you talking? // About what are you dreaming? With what do you open the bottle? / About what are you thinking?
Questions about Things:
The question word is formed by "wo" + preposition.
For prepositions that start with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), we must include an "r".
These questions do not have anything to do with the single question "wo?" (Where?).
This variation is possible, even though it is very informal:
This variation is possible, even though it is very informal.
It is not so popular because it sounds a bit "dumb" or "uneducated".
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Summary
- Some verbs use Verbs with Prepositions - Verben mit Präpositionen.
- That doesn’t mean that the verb doesn’t work without the preposition.
- Without the preposition or with another preposition, the verb has a different meaning.
- The preposition is obligatory for a certain meaning.
- The preposition determines the case, and for questions, the preposition must also be integrated into the question word (Like in the formal, old-fashioned English).
Related Topics:
Entire lesson in German only: Verben mit Präpositionen
You can find more lessons on Verbs here:
- Was sind Verben? (What are Verbs?)
- Starke Verben (Strong Verbs)
- „sein“ und „haben“ ("sein" and "haben")
- Reflexive Verben (Reflexive Verbs)
- Trennbare & Untrennbare Verben (Separable & Inseparable Verbs)
- Modalverben (Modal Verbs)
- Partizip 1 (Present Participle)
- Partizip 2 (Past Participle)
- Das Verb „werden” (Verb "werden")
- Das Verb „lassen” (Verb "lassen")
- Imperativ (Imperative)
- Konjunktiv 1 (Subjunctive 1)
- Konjunktiv 2 (Subjunctive 2)
- Das Passiv (Passive Voice)
- Vorgangspassiv (Process Passive)
- Das Passiv in allen zeitformen (Process Passive in all tenses)
- Verben ohne Passiv (Verbs without Passive voice)
- Zustandpassiv (Status Passive)
- Das unpersönliche Passiv (Impersonal Passive)
- Verben mit Ergänzungen (Verbs with Complements)
- Verben mit Nominativ (Verbs with Nominative)
- Verben mit Akkusativ (Verbs with Accusative)
- Verben mit doppeltem Akkusativ (Verbs with double Accusative)
- Verben mit Dativ (Verbs with Dative)
- Verben mit Akkusativ & Dativ (Verbs with Accusative & Dative)
- Verben mit Genitiv (Verbs with Genitive)
Lists on the topic of German verbs:
- Die 30 wichtigsten Verben mit Vokalwechsel (The 30 most important verbs with vowel change)
- Untrennbare Präfixe (Inseparable Prefixes)
- Wechselpräfixe (Two-case Prefixes)
- Unregelmäßige Partizip 2 Formen (Irregular Participle 2 forms)
- Nomen-Verb-Verbindungen (Noun-Verb compounds)
You can find an overview of all topics under German Grammar.
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