Six useful prepositions
Learn these six with dative: aus, bei, mit, nach, von and zu. This is a starter set, not every German dative preposition. The noun phrase takes the case selected by the preposition.
Nora fährt mit dem Zug.
Nora is travelling by train.
Nach or zu for a destination?
Use nach with city names and country names without an article. Use zu for destinations such as a person or their workplace. Country names with articles need another pattern: compare nach Deutschland with in die Schweiz.
Nora fährt nach Hamburg. Danach geht sie zum Arzt.
Nora travels to Hamburg. Afterwards she goes to the doctor.
Going there or already there?
Zum Arzt describes going to the doctor; beim Arzt describes being there. Zu still takes dative when someone is moving. Movement alone does not determine the case.
Nora ist beim Arzt.
Nora is at the doctor’s.
Coming from somewhere
Aus can describe coming out of an enclosed place, or an origin such as a country. Von can name the starting point of a journey or a place someone has visited. Learn the whole phrase with its meaning.
Nora kommt aus dem Haus. Später kommt sie vom Bahnhof.
Nora comes out of the house. Later she comes from the station.
A contraction already contains its article
The common combinations are zu dem → zum, zu der → zur, bei dem → beim and von dem → vom. Do not add a second article. Full forms can be appropriate, for example with an emphasized article. There is no standard contraction for mit dem.
Nora geht zur Arbeit.
Nora goes to work.
Why can running still take dative?
With a two-way preposition such as in, distinguish running inside a place from entering it. The verb can stay the same. Dative describes the location of the running; accusative describes its destination.
Nora läuft im Garten. Nora läuft in den Garten.
Nora runs inside the garden. Nora runs into the garden.
Practise the six patterns
The A1 block combines explanations, controlled practice, a block check and spaced review. It requires course access or an eligible seven-day trial. The first 10 blocks of each language remain free.
Explore this grammar blockReview the article forms
Start with dative articles and recipients if the forms are unfamiliar. Compare time prepositions to see why the intended meaning matters. Then practise location and destination in the next A1 block, with the same course-access requirements.
Sources and scope
Original examples informed by IDS grammis on prepositions and case and LEO grammar on contractions and full forms. These are selected everyday patterns; two-way prepositions and further uses follow in later blocks.