Two-way prepositions
Nine prepositions take the accusative when you move somewhere and the dative when you are already there. Ask wohin? for movement and wo? for place.
Ich hänge das Bild an die Wand.
Das Bild hängt an der Wand.
The first sentence moves the picture. die Wand is accusative. The second sentence says where it is. Feminine dative is der Wand. The noun did not change gender. The case changed.
The nine are in, an, auf, über, unter, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen. Do not apply the switch to mit or für. Those do not switch. The A2 lesson states the same tip: Wohin takes the accusative, Wo takes the dative.
Open the two-way preposition lesson · Accusative first · Articles for the nouns you put in the sentence
Verb position · Cases · Separable verbs · Plurals
Author: Fahrplan Deutsch. Last reviewed 2026-10-27. reviewed: false. A native-speaker review is still open.
Questions
When is “in” accusative?
When something moves into a place. Ich gehe in die Stadt. When something is already there, in takes the dative: Ich bin in der Stadt.
Which prepositions switch?
in, an, auf, über, unter, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen. mit, bei, zu, von, aus, nach and seit stay dative. für, ohne, um and durch stay accusative.