The postpositioned preposition 'zufolge' (zufolge)

Citing sources with zufolge

When discussing news, weather reports, or scientific studies, you often need to say "according to" a particular source. In German, the word zufolge does exactly this.

However, zufolge is special: it is a postpositioned preposition. This means it is placed after the noun it modifies, rather than before it. In addition, the noun that comes before it must always take the dative case.

Using zufolge with masculine and neuter nouns

Because zufolge requires the dative, masculine and neuter nouns will use the article dem or einem.

Notice how the entire phrase (like Dem Meteorologen zufolge) occupies the first position in the sentence. As always in a German main clause, the conjugated verb takes the second position.

Using zufolge with feminine and plural nouns

For feminine nouns, the dative article is der or einer. For plural nouns, it is den (and remember to add an -n to the end of the plural noun if it doesn't already have one).

Placement in the middle of a sentence

While zufolge phrases often appear at the beginning of a sentence to establish the source right away, you can also place them in the middle of the sentence.