23 German Verbs with Prepositions [You Need To Know]

So you’re interested in German. Do you dream of visiting Germany? Or maybe you are looking forward to your next trip there.

If you really want to use your German, you’ll need to get to grips with German verbs with prepositions. If you’re wondering what on earth they are, read on…

After reading this post you will know:

• What verbs with prepositions are
• How the German cases get involved with prepositional verbs
• Which German verbs with prepositions take the accusative case, and which take the dative case
• The most common German verbs with prepositions [jump to list]

What are Verbs with Prepositions?

Let’s break this down a bit. A verb is often known as a ‘describing word’. They are used to describe actions, physical states, thoughts and experiences.

Prepositions are those little words such as ‘to’, ‘in’, ‘with’, ‘at’, ‘about’ and ‘on’ which help us to make sense of how things are related in a sentence. They often appear in front of nouns or pronouns. However they also become ‘attached’ to verbs.

You do this in English without even thinking about it:

• I’m interested in …
• I’m waiting for …
• I’m going to …

Sometimes prepositions pair up with verbs, and when they do this they can completely change the meaning of the sentence. Let’s take a look at an example in English:

• Can you look after my cat?
• Can you look for my cat?
• Can you look at my cat?

In this example, when the verb ‘to look’ is paired with different prepositions, the meaning of the sentences completely changes.

German Verbs with Prepositions

German verbs also sometimes pair up with prepositions and become ‘prepositional German verbs’.

Ich interessiere mich für Kunst	I’m interested in art
Ich fahre mit dem Bus	I go by bus
Ich warte auf dich	I’ll wait for you

As you can see, you often can’t simply translate the English prepositions into German. Often the German prepositions aren’t the same as their English counterparts.

In these examples für = for, mit = with and auf = on.

In German you would say ‘I’m interested for Art’, ‘I go with the bus’ and ‘I’ll wait on you’. This is one of those things you’ll get better at with practice and exposure to the language.

Like in English, some verbs can pair with more than one preposition. This can completely change the meaning of the sentence. Let’s use the verb sich freuen (to please) as an example:

Ich freue mich	I am pleased
Ich freue mich über die Fortschritte	I am pleased about the progress
Ich freue mich auf deinen Besuch	I’m looking forward to your visit

You can see that by depending on whether we use the preposition über (about) or auf (to / on) or no preposition at all, the whole meaning of the verb can change.

While some prepositions completely change the meaning of a verb, other verbs pair with prepositions that keep the meaning almost the same:

Denkst du an mich?	Do you think about me?
Was denkst du über meinen Job?	What do you think about my job?

In this example, we use the verb denken (to think) and the prepositions an (on) and über (about). You can see how the prepositions have changed in German, but in English they don’t (we just use ‘about’ in both sentences). This is just one of those things you will learn as you get exposed to more and more German.

You can click here to jump to the full list of the most common German verbs with prepositions.

German Verbs with Prepositions & The German Cases

If you’re already familiar with German prepositions, you’ll know that which preposition you use can affect which case that follows it. For example:

Er leidet unter einer Erkältung	He’s suffering from a cold	Dative
Er bittet um eine Tablette	He asks for a tablet	Accusative

In the examples above we see the following:

• The two verbs; Erkältung (a cold) and Tablette (tablet) are both feminine nouns
• They both come after a preposition
• Unter demands the dative case, so the indefinite article (eine) changes to einer
• Um demands the accusative case, so the indefinite article stays as eine

If you want to learn about German prepositions and how they affect cases, you can read the German Prepositions post here. For now, keep this chart handy so you can see which prepositions demand which cases:

There are quite a few prepositions known as ‘two-way prepositions’ which can demand the accusative or dative case. However once they are paired with their verb, they stick with just one case.

For example, even though an is a two-way preposition, when it pairs with the verb denken (to think) it demands the accusative case, and won’t change:

• Ich denke an dich = dich is the accusative pronoun

If we use an again, this time pairing it with the verb leiden (to suffer), it demands the dative case:

• Sie leidet an einer Migräne = einer is the feminine dative article

In the following section you’ll find a list of common German verbs with prepositions which demand the accusative and dative cases. You’ll see the two-way articles included in both the accusative and dative lists.

Accusative Case

Verb	Preposition	English	Example
antworten	auf	to respond to	Ich antworte ihr auf die Frage.
bezahlen	für	to pay for	Ich habe für mein neues Auto bezahlt.
bitten	um	to ask for	Er bittet um mehr Geld.
denken	an	to think of	Ich denke an dich.
sich erinnern	an	to remember	Erinnerst du dich an mich?
sich freuen	auf	to look forward to	Ich freue mich auf deinen Besuch.
sich freuen	über	to be pleased about	Sie freut sich über das Geschenk.
sich interessieren	für	to be interested in	Ich interessiere mich für Kunst.
sich kümmern	um	to care for	Kannst du dich um meine Katze kümmern?
reden / sprechen	über	to talk about	Sie sprechen viel über Ihren Job.
sich verlieben	in	to fall in love with	Er verliebte sich in sie.
warten	auf	to wait for	Ich warte auf dich.

Dative Case

Verb	Preposition	English	Example
arbeiten	bei	to work for	Ich arbeite bei Walmart.
fahren	mit	to go by	Ich fahre mit der Straßenbahn.
kommen	aus	to come from	Er kommt aus Deutschland.
sich sehnen	nach	to long for	Ich sehne mich nach einem besseren Leben.
sprechen	mit	to speak with	Ich spreche mit meinem Chef.
träumen	von	to dream of	Sie träumt davon, in Deutschland zu leben.
übernachten	bei	to stay overnight with	Wir übernachten bei unseren Eltern.
warnen	vor	to warn about	Ich habe dich vor ihm gewarnt.
wohnen	bei	to live / stay with	Ich wohne bei meinem Freund.
sich verabschieden	von	to say goodbye to	Wir verabschieden uns von unseren Freunden.