Always Dative
Prepositions are little words that connect ideas, like "with", "from", or "to". In German, certain prepositions strictly require the noun or pronoun that follows them to be in the Dative case, regardless of the context.
Two of the most common are mit (with/by) and von (from/of).
| Are you coming with me? | Kommst du mit mir? |
| He is traveling by train. | Er fährt mit dem Zug. |
| The gift is from you. | Das Geschenk ist von dir. |
| We are coming from work. | Wir kommen von der Arbeit. |
Time and place: bei and seit
The preposition bei usually means "at", "near", or "with" (in the sense of being at someone's home or with a company).
The preposition seit is used for time. It means "since" or "for" an ongoing period, and it also always triggers the Dative case.
| I live with my family. | Ich wohne bei meiner Familie. |
| I have been learning German for a week. | Ich lerne seit einer Woche Deutsch. |
| Have you been living here for a month? | Wohnen Sie seit einem Monat hier? |
Dative contractions
When a Dative preposition is followed by the definite articles dem (masculine/neuter) or der (feminine), they frequently combine into a single, shorter word.
Here are the most common Dative contractions, including forms using the preposition zu (to):
| Preposition + Article | Contraction |
|---|---|
| bei + dem | beim |
| von + dem | vom |
| zu + dem | zum |
| zu + der | zur |
| He is at the doctor's. | Er ist beim Arzt. |
| I am coming from the train station. | Ich komme vom Bahnhof. |
| We are going to the train station. | Wir gehen zum Bahnhof. |
| Are you going to the post office? | Gehst du zur Post? |
