German · Chapter 5 · Lesson 14 · Grammar primer
Prepositions and their cases
Every German preposition has already decided which case follows it. The tidiest thing in the language, or the least forgiving.
The short version
Movement takes the accusative, location the dative
Nine German prepositions, including in, auf and an, can take either case. Ask whether the sentence answers where to or where. Going into town is in die Stadt, accusative. Being in town is in der Stadt, dative. The verbs help: legen and stellen move things, liegen and stehen leave them where they are.
Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch. Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch.
For two years is seit, not für
When something started in the past and is still going on, German uses seit with the present tense, where English uses the perfect with for. Für only covers a planned stretch of time, like a week you have booked. And ago is vor with the dative: vor einer Woche.
Ich wohne seit zwei Jahren hier.
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