Formal prepositions of reference
When discussing professional topics like insurance claims and liabilities, you often need to explicitly reference a specific subject. To say "regarding" or "with regard to," use the formal prepositions bezüglich and hinsichtlich.
Both prepositions require the Genitive case.
| We are checking the claim regarding your insurance policy. | Wir prüfen den Anspruch bezüglich Ihrer Police. |
You can place these prepositional phrases at the beginning of a sentence to emphasize the topic. The conjugated verb stays in the second position, immediately following the phrase.
| With regard to the insurance policy, we will check the claim. | Hinsichtlich der Police werden wir den Anspruch prüfen. |
Declining feminine nouns
In the Genitive case, feminine articles change from die to der (and eine to einer, Ihre to Ihrer, etc.). The nouns themselves do not change.
| There is a new clause with regard to the liability. | Es gibt eine neue Klausel hinsichtlich der Haftung. |
| Regarding the coverage, we must read the contract. | Bezüglich der Deckung müssen wir den Vertrag lesen. |
Declining masculine and neuter nouns
For masculine and neuter nouns, articles change to des (or eines, Ihres, etc.), and you must add an -s or -es to the end of the noun itself.
| Regarding the case of damage, the document was sent yesterday. | Bezüglich des Schadensfalls ist das Dokument gestern geschickt worden. |
These prepositions are highly common in business and legal settings, particularly when defining what a policy covers or excludes (ausschließen).
| We will exclude this risk with regard to the coverage. | Wir werden dieses Risiko hinsichtlich der Deckung ausschließen. |
| With regard to your claim, we need more details. | Hinsichtlich Ihres Anspruchs brauchen wir mehr Details. |