The Meaning and Use of “auf etwas stehen”

Hello everyone,

and welcome to new episode of Colloquial German  – the series where we look at all the stuff that people use in real life but that you won’t find in the standard textbook and teaching materials.
“So basically the cool stuff?”
Yes, the cool stuff :).

And today, we’ll learn a phrase that is really common but that’s also kind of confusing.
Ladies and gents, get ready for:

The Meaning and Use of “stehen auf”

And the reason it’s confusing is that German also has the verb aufstehen. Which means to get up and it’s a separable prefix verb, so the auf can split off and appear elsewhere in the sentence.

• Ich stehe um 7 auf.
• I get up at seven.

This has NOTHING to do with the expression stehen auf.
Well, except that there’s stehen in it.

Stehen auf , or I guess we could say auf etwas stehen, is the verb stehen that then with the preposition auf, pretty much like to stand on.

But auf etwas stehen has taken on a figurative meaning and that is VERY common in daily life and a good way to talk about liking.

Today, we’ll learn all about how and when to use it, so if you’re ready, let’s jump right in.

The normal uses of “stehen auf”

The combination stehen auf has a normal day job as to stand/be on (top of) in a literal sense.

• Die Tasse steht auf dem Tisch.
• The cup stands/is on the table.
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And it’s also used in a more figurative sense of writing. German uses stehen for writing, and it’s either in something (books, emails) or auf something (labels, signs, …).

• Was steht auf dem Schild? Ich kann das nicht lesen.
• What does the sign say/What’s written on the sign?  I can’t read it.
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Oh and stehen auf is also sometimes used in the context of settings, like here:

• Der Kühlschrank steht auf Stufe 4 und ist trotzdem zu warm.
• The fridge is on level 4 and still, it is too warm.
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So these are the “normal” uses of stehen auf, and they’re already enough to make it worth learning.

But it there’s more.

Auf etwas stehen – The Colloquial Meaning

The expression auf etwas/jemanden stehen is a super common informal way to express liking.
So yes… it’s a forth option besides mögen, gern and gefallen.

It does express genuine liking, similar to mögen, but it’s WAY more colloquial sounding than that. Almost a bit slangy or “cool”. It doesn’t work so well for serious emotions, and I feel like stehen auf sounds a little more greedy, or lusty at times.
Like… you want have it. You don’t just appreciate it for what it is.
Anyway, let’s look at some examples and see.

• Ich steh auf Regen.
• I like/dig rain.
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• “Willst du mal meinen Veggie-Burger kosten?”
  “Nee, ich steh nicht so auf  Soja.”
• “Do you want to try my burger?”
  “No, I don’t really like soy (that much) .”
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• Ich steh’ voll auf Marias Parfum.
• I really like Maria’s perfume.
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In these, we had the ‘target’ directly included, but of course we can also reference it, and the way to do that in German when a preposition is involved is of course… a da-wrod. So in our case drauf or darauf.

• Wenn ihr darauf steht, unfreundlich behandelt zu werden und zu viel Geld für Scheißgetränke zu bezahlen, dann werdet ihr diese Bar lieben. (fictional review of a bar)
• If you like being treated in an unfriendly manner and paying too much money for shitty drinks, then you’ll love this bar.
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• “Du trinkst in letzter Zeit öfter Schwarzbier, oder?”
  “Ja Mann, da steh ich grad voll drauf.“
• “Just lately, you have drunk more dark beer haven’t you?”
  “Yeah dude, I‘m really into that at the moment.”
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• “Ihhh… du riechst nach Döner.”
  “Komm schon, da stehst du doch drauf.“
  “Nee, voll nich. Geh weg.”
• “Ewwwww… you smell like kebab.”
  “Come on… I know you like that (that gets you going).”
  “No… I soooo do NOT. Go away!”
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Now, so far, all the ‘targets’ were things, but stehen auf also works for people.

• Ich glaub, der neue steht auf mich.
• I think the new guy has a crush on me.
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• Hey, äh… du bist echt nett,  aber ich steh auf Frauen.
• Hey new guy… you’re really nice, but I like women.
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You might have noticed it from the examples already: auf jemanden stehen  is usually about THAT type of liking. The romantically interested one.
You can say the following to your crush, but not to your best friend… well, except if you have a crush on your best friend.

• Ich steh auf dich.
• I like/dig you.
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All right.
Now, those of you who are currently in the “case phase” (the phase when you worry about getting the German cases right and try to make sense of all of them)  might have been wondering “Wait, why dich and not dir.”
So, let’s talk about that for second.

“stehen auf” – The Cases

Auf is a so called Two-Way preposition. That means it can go with Dative AND with Accusative.
The normal use of stehen auf, the sense of actually standing on something, works with Dative, because stehen is stationary, and in  “stationary” context, Two-Way Prepositions go with Dative.
The colloquial, abstract use on the other hand, the one that’s about liking or “digging”, works with Accusative.
And this is actually a general trend in German. Here they are back to back.

• Thomas steht auf dem Tisch. (Dative – Thomas is standing  on the table.)
• Thomas steht auf den Tisch. (Accusative – Thomas digs/really likes the table.)
  
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• Ich warte auf dem Schiff. (Dative – I’m on the ship, waiting.)
• Ich warte auf das Schiff (Accusative- I’m waiting for the ship.)
  
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In both examples, the Dative covers the literal, location related meaning.
The Accusative is used for the abstract combo of verb and preposition.
And I can imagine that’s quite confusing for learners.  But luckily it makes sense… or we can make it make sense. Get ready for some mind bending:
Liking does have some overlap with wanting. And wanting something or someone has a fair bit of direction in it. You have a goal, and even if just on a very abstract level, you’re “moving” toward it. And stehen auf with Accusative kind of captures this “directed” mind.

• Steve steht auf Maria.
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He wants her, he desires her, his mind is bent on her, his soul is directed toward her. Damn Steve, that’s creepy… no wonder she thought about getting a restraining order.
But seriously, we can think of this Accusative as capturing the “directed-ness”, that is part of wanting and liking.

And if that doesn’t make sense to you, then I got another option, which is also a theory as to where stehen auf actually comes from.
There’s a similar phrasing to stehen auf: fliegen auf. It means the same but I think it’s a bit older and definitely somewhat out of fashion today. What’s cool about it is that the Accusative makes perfect sense there because fliegen is a directed movement, and that is connected with Accusative.
Just think of a flock of seagulls darting down on an open bag of potato chips someone left at the beach. They “fly on top of it” because they dig that stuff.

This fliegen auf might have inspired stehen auf and people just kept the case.
Wow, that was a lot of case talk :).

Let’s wrap this up then with something lighter… a word play. There’s a woman who has written a book about how to get healthy and strong feet.

And now guess what it’s title could be….

Starke Füße – da steh ich drauf.

German humor.
Dumme Witze? Ich steh drauf :).

Anyway, that’s it for today. This was our look at the phrase stehen auf, which is a colloquial way to express liking. And which is SUPER MEGA COMMON.
What about you? Have you heard this phrasing in daily life? Do you use it? Were you confused by it at first? And what do you stehen auf? Leave a comment with your example and see if you used it correctly. And of course if you have any questions about any of this, let’s clear that up in the comments, too.

I’m out for now. I hope you had fun.
Bis nächstes Mal.