Accusative Prepositions in German

Accusative prepositions are prepositions in German grammar that always require the noun phrase following them to be in the Accusative case, regardless of context, movement, or location. These prepositions are essential for expressing relationships of direction, purpose, time, or exclusion. The core accusative prepositions are: bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, and um.

The grammar rules demand that all articles, pronouns, and adjectives in the noun phrase following these prepositions take the accusative endings. For instance, masculine singular articles change to den or einen (e.g., für meinen Hund), while feminine, neuter, and plural forms remain identical to the Nominative. In combination with definite articles, some prepositions can merge (e.g., durch das becomes durchs, um das becomes ums).

A common mistake is using the Dative case after these prepositions (e.g., saying ohne meinem Freund instead of ohne meinen Freund). Another frequent error is confusing the usage of für with other prepositions, or forgetting that pronouns must also change to their accusative forms (e.g., saying gegen ich instead of gegen mich).