Two-way prepositions

You already met this idea with in: in der Küche is where I am, in die Küche is where I am going. Nine prepositions work exactly that way, and the good news is that you only ever have to make one decision.

Wo? — position → dative. Wohin? — a change of place → accusative.

Learning the nine words is the small part. Making the decision quickly is the real skill, so the exercises here keep asking the same question about different pictures.

The verb usually gives the answer away. Being verbs — sein, liegen, stehen, sitzen, bleiben, arbeiten — describe a position. Putting verbs — legen, stellen, setzen, gehen, fahren — describe something arriving somewhere new.

• Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch.

  The book is lying on the table.

  Wo? → dative

• Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch.

  I am putting the book on the table.

  Wohin? → accusative

• Das Auto steht vor dem Haus.

  The car is parked in front of the house.

• Ich stelle das Auto vor das Haus.

  I am putting the car in front of the house.

• Der Laptop steht neben dem Fenster.

  The laptop is next to the window.

• Die Katze schläft unter dem Bett.

  The cat is sleeping under the bed.

Two contractions are worth having ready: in dem → im, in das → ins, and likewise an dem → am, an das → ans, auf das → aufs.

One honest caveat. These prepositions also appear in expressions where nothing physically moves — am Montag, Ich warte auf den Bus, Ich denke an dich. Those are fixed uses, learned one at a time. The location-versus-direction rule is about places, and that is all this lesson is claiming.