Re: aus, auf, an, am, uber

[stuartgilkes70_88880]

Servus!

Can you give me a basic guide on the literal meaning of each of these prepositions and maybe some examples of situations to use each of them? They seem to be used in ways we might not expect in English.

Stuart.

[german.innovative]

Hi Stuart,

Thank you for your comment!

Yes, there are a lot of prepositions that are used in different situations. Here are a few examples:

"aus" is used similar to the English "from".
"Ich komme aus Deutschland." (I am from Germany.) "Ich hole den Kuchen aus dem Ofen." (I am taking the cake out of the oven.)

"auf" is used to point out things that are on top of something.
"Ich klettere auf den Berg." (I climb the mountain, literal translation "I climb onto the mountain.)
"Der Kuchen ist auf dem Tisch." (The cake is on the table.)

"an" and "am" both mean "at", "am" is an abbreviation of "an" and "dem".
"Ich stehe an einer Klippe." (I am standing at a cliff.)
"Ich wohne am Stadtrand." (am = an dem, "I live on the outskirts of town", literal translation, "I live at the outskirts of town.")

"über" means "above".
"Die Wohnung liegt über einem Restaurant" ("The apartment is located above a restaurant.)

I hope this helps!

Clara
Team GermanPod101.com