German Prepositions Practice: Akkusativ or Dativ

Start typing on this page — nothing is gated. Each round gives you five short sentences with the article missing, you type it in, and the answer appears immediately. Nothing is stored unless you create an account, which is what lets the prepositions you keep missing come back later.

Because in is one of the nine two-way prepositions, and they distinguish going somewhere from being somewhere. "Ich gehe in die Küche" is movement into the kitchen, so Akkusativ; "Ich bin in der Küche" is position inside it, so Dativ. The verb is what tells you which one you are describing.

Both, and in that order. The twelve fixed ones — durch, für, gegen, ohne, um for Akkusativ; aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu for Dativ — are a short memorisation job that pays off immediately. The two-way nine are not a list problem at all; they need sentences, because the case depends on what the sentence is doing.

They are contractions: in + dem, in + das, zu + der. The case did not go anywhere, it was folded into the word. That is worth knowing precisely because they are so common in speech — a learner who knows the rule can still hesitate when the article they were about to choose has disappeared.