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### The preposition *anhand*

When explaining how you came to a conclusion or how you identify something, you use the preposition **anhand** ("on the basis of" or "by means of"). This is especially useful in science and nature, such as when identifying plants by their physical traits.

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Like many formal prepositions, *anhand* always requires the noun that follows it to be in the **genitive** case. 

### *anhand* with masculine and neuter nouns

For masculine and neuter nouns in the genitive case, the definite article changes to *des*. Additionally, the noun itself usually adds an *-s* or *-es* to the end.

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### *anhand* with feminine and plural nouns

For feminine and plural nouns, the genitive definite article is *der*. Unlike masculine and neuter nouns, the noun itself does not change its ending.

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If you are using multiple nouns as evidence, you simply put all of them into the genitive case.

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### Using demonstrative articles

You will often point to a specific feature using a demonstrative article like *dies-* ("this"). Because it must also take the genitive case, it becomes *dieses* for masculine and neuter nouns, and *dieser* for feminine and plural nouns.

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Notice that the entire phrase (*Anhand dieses Merkmals*) can occupy the first position in the sentence. As always in a regular German main clause, the conjugated verb (*unterscheiden*) takes the second position.

The genitive preposition 'anhand' (anhand)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
on the basis of / by means of	anhand
the leaf	das Blatt
One recognizes the tree by means of the leaf.	Man erkennt den Baum anhand des Blattes.
the trunk	der Stamm
the bark	die Rinde
One recognizes the older trunk by means of the bark.	Den älteren Stamm erkennt man anhand der Rinde.
the feature	das Merkmal
to distinguish	unterscheiden
On the basis of this feature, we distinguish the plants.	Anhand dieses Merkmals unterscheiden wir die Pflanzen.
the blossom	die Blüte
the bush	der Strauch
The color of the blossom is different, depending on where the bush grows.	Die Farbe der Blüte ist verschieden, je nachdem, wo der Strauch wächst.
the branch (small, twig)	der Zweig
the root	die Wurzel
We identify the tree by means of the branch, whereby the root is also important.	Wir bestimmen den Baum anhand des Zweiges, wobei die Wurzel auch wichtig ist.
This feature is likely to be normal for the bush.	Dieses Merkmal dürfte für den Strauch normal sein.
The root is usually longer than the trunk, whereby we cannot see the root.	Die Wurzel ist meistens länger als der Stamm, wobei wir die Wurzel nicht sehen können.
One distinguishes the trees by means of the bark and the branches.	Man unterscheidet die Bäume anhand der Rinde und der Zweige.
The trunk is larger, depending on how old the tree is.	Der Stamm ist größer, je nachdem, wie alt der Baum ist.
I recognize the bush by means of this feature, whereby the blossom is often missing.	Ich erkenne den Strauch anhand dieses Merkmals, wobei die Blüte oft fehlt.
The branch of the tree is often younger than the trunk.	Der Zweig des Baumes ist oft jünger als der Stamm.
I recognize the tree on the basis of the leaf.	Ich erkenne den Baum anhand des Blattes.