Hello everyone,
and welcome to the German is Easy Learn German Online Course… and today, it’s time for THEM.
Prepare yourself for the 5th part of the Time Mini Series,
get ready for:
German Time Prepositions
Now, if you’re like „Oh god oh god, prepositions… this one is going to be so hard, I don’t know if I can handle it“ (which, on an unrelated note, is in fact what she said back when this was still funny) I have good news for you:
German time prepositions are neither hard nor numerous. #fact
The reason why we are talking about them this late in the series is NOT the level of difficulty. It’s the mere fact that many examples with prepositions use words we’ve learned in the parts before.
And we need to be able to correctly address points in time first before you can use a preposition to put this point in time in a relation with something. Because that’s what prepositions do… they express relations between stuff (read more about prepositions in general here).
Anyway, today we’ll talk about von, in, seit, bis and ab, see what idea they express and what common mistakes to watch out for. And of course, there will be LOADS of audio examples, so let’s friggin’ jump into it…
But before we talk about the actual prepositions, we need to talk about one concept real quick. Nothing too serious. Just some little something that’s REALLY IMPORTANT and useful for ALL languages. I am talking about
the difference between a time span and a point in time.
A time span is a measure of time, a quantity. And you can ask for it using “How much time?”.
- 3 days, 5 years, some time, one moment, a while
A point in time on the other hand is a word or a group of words that kind of names a more or less specific point in time. And you can ask for it using “At what point on time?” or simply “When?”.
These are basically what we’ve been talking about in the three preceding articles.
- soon, last Monday, tomorrow, 12:30, now…
Now why does this matter, you ask?
Because grammar! Some German time prepositions only work with a span, some only with a point and some are ok with either. An English example for this are the prepositions since and for. For works with a span (a quantity) while since refers a point.
- I have been here since yesterday.
- I have been here for 5 minutes.
- I have been here for yesterday… is pretty damn wrong… even though, the colors look kind of nice next to each other :)
So, for each preposition I will tell you whether it takes a point, a span or both using these beautiful colors :).
Cool, so… I think now we’re set.
“vor”
Vor is THE word to give a measure between now and some point in the past. Like… how time passed since that event in the past.
In English, this is done by the word ago. But does that mean that vor means ago? Well, no because the structures are different. Vor is a PRE-position whilst ago is… well, not a preposition… if any “-sition” than it is a post-position.
- 3 days ago, I argued with my cat.
- Vor 3 Tagen habe ich meiner Katze gestritten.
- Maria went to the library an hour ago.
- Maria ist vor einer Stunde in die Bibliothek gegangen.
The position is the only difference, but it’s an important one. Vor comes first, ago comes last. Now, if you are a beginner and you are a native English speaker and you want to say some ago-thing in German it will happen to you that you start right with the span… like here:
- 2 years ago, I did something.
- 2 Jahre… uh…
If you do that, start over! There is no way to save this and get anywhere near correct. You can’t just say vor at the end of something. Vor always starts a group of words and a German would need to do brain gymnastics to figure out that the vor is supposed to be part of the time indication that has already been said. So, it is no problem if it happens, you have to get used to say vor first, but start over if you do it wrong and correct yourself.
Now, is there anything to watch out vor… I mean for?
Well, let’s say you saw a pink fluorescent Elephant last Monday. However, that wasn’t the first time because you had seen this beauty already on Saturday… can you tell the story using vor 2 Tagen?
- Ich habe am Montag wieder den pinken, fluoreszierenden Elefanten gesehen, den ich schon vor 2 Tagen gesehen hatte.
- On Monday, I have seen the pink, fluorescent elephant I had seen 2 days ago.
This doesn’t work.
Neither in English nor in German. Both words, ago and vor do refer to (some) now. This might be different in other languages, so I felt like I have to say it. Let me know in the comments, if that actually works in your mother tongue :).
Cool… moving on.
“in”
In has two functions for time.
First, it is the counterpart of vor in the future. If you want to indicate a time difference, a span, between now and some point to come… use in.
- Ich rufe dich in 5 Minuten zurück.
- I will call you back in 5 minutes.
- In 100 Jahren gibt es vielleicht fliegende Autos.
- 100 years from now, there might be flying cars.
And the second thing in is used for is a general indication of a duration that is needed for an achievement … sounds complicated but again, it’s the same as in English.
You’d ask “In how much time did you finish this?”… kind of.
- Ich habe in 3 Monaten Deutsch gelernt.
- I’ve learned German in 3 months.
This sentence used past tense, so it clearly DOESN’T mean that I’ll learn German three months from now, but that it took three month to learn it (#falsehope)
And this duration-in also works for the future.
- Morgen trinke ich in einer Stunde 3 Kaffee.
- Tomorrow, I’ll drink three coffees in one hour.
Now, with two ideas carried by one word there is a bit of room for confusion.
- Ich mache meine Küche in 3 Tagen sauber.
- I am going to clean my kitchen in three days.
This one is not clear. Will you do it three days from now or will it take you three days to do it… I don’t know.
These cases are rare though. Usually, Captain Context will make it pretty clear.
Cool.
Is there anything to watch out for with in?
Yes. The German in is NOT used for ins that are used in sense of since or for.
- I haven’t eaten in 3 days.
- Ich habe in 3 Tagen nichts gegessen…. is wrong
This does NOT work in German and a German native speaker would not understand what you’re trying to say.
So yeah… even though German in and English in are really similar, try to remember the two concepts of German in and not just the translation.
Here’s an example that brings them together :)
- In 100 Jahren kann man vielleicht in einer Stunde von Berlin nach NY fliegen.
- A hundred years from now, it might be possible to fly from Berlin to NY in one hour.
“seit “
Seit is used to indicate when an unfinished action or state has started – in the PAST.
Seit can be used with time spans and points which means that it is the German word for since AND for.
- Ich lerne seit Juni Deutsch.
- I have been learning German since June.
- Ich lerne seit 4 Monaten Deutsch.
- I have been learning for 4 month.
- Meine Katze kann seit Montag reden.
- My cat can talk since Monday.
- Ich war seit 4 Wochen nicht mehr an der Uni.
- I haven’t been to university in 4 weeks.
That’s why many Germans will make mistakes with since and for... because it’s one word in German. Wow, one word in German for two English words… that’s rare :). Usually, it’s the other way around.
Anyway, of course there are a few thing to watch out for.
One is that seit is NOT for in the following example.
- I have slept for a while.
This action is over. You’re not sleeping anymore. But seit does imply that it’s still going on. The correct German phrase would use either für or better yet no preposition at all.
- Ich habe eine Weile geschlafen.
Now, one question we need to talk about real quick is the question of which tense to use with seit.
Well, you might have noticed that German is really lax when it comes to tenses. So much so that the common subconscious compensates for this “lack” of precision by valuing punctuality so much… this is just a theory though :)… anyway… so tenses.
Seit works with past AND with present, but there’s a difference in meaning.
- Ich habe seit einer Woche kein Fleisch gegessen
- Ich esse seit einer Woche kein Fleisch.
- I haven’t eaten meat in a week.
The first sentence states a mere fact. It’s been a week that I haven’t eaten meat, it just happened that way.
The second sentence on the other hand expresses that this is something I’ve been “actively” doing it and I am doing it still. I don’t eat meat by choice.
The following example takes this to the extreme.
- Ich habe seit einer Woche nicht geraucht.
- I haven’t smoked for a week.
- Ich rauche seit einer Woche nicht mehr.
Lit.: I am not smoking anymore since a week ago. - I have stopped smoking a week ago.
Now, the difference is not that big for all the verbs. Sometimes, it’s but a nuance. Still, it’s good to keep that in mind.
All right. Moving on.
“ab”
Ab is kind of the equivalent of seit for the future. Seit is used to say when something started (or for how long it’s been going on). And ab talks about when something will start. And just to make sure… as usual, German will NOT bother actually using future tense here :)
- Ich bin ab Montag in Rom.
- I will be in Rome from next Monday.
- Ab morgen habe ich mehr Zeit.
- I will have more time starting tomorrow.
Unlike seit, though, ab can only be used with points of time . It does NOT work with spans.
- Ich bin ab 3 Wochen in Rom… is wrong
If we want to use ab with a span, we have to do two steps. First, we use the span to indicate a point in the future. The preposition for that is one we’ve already learned: in… so this would be in 3 Wochen. This block is a point in time and now we can put our ab in front o fit…. ab in 3 Wochen. Yes, ab in a fairly common thing to say :)
- Ich bin ab in 3 Wochen in Rom.
- I will be in Rome starting 3 weeks from now.
While not being the prettiest sentence to utter, people do talk that way at times.
Now, I have a little test for you. Is this also correct?
- Ab vor 3 Wochen habe ich nicht geraucht…. NOPE
No, it’s not.
Because ab doesn’t work for the past. The word for that is seit. Ab does work with jetzt, though. Do you know these kind of little games like “Who talks first is stupid” or “ Who laughs first secretly eats boogers.”? We played those a lot at univers… uh elementary, yeah at elementary school … so if you want to start a competition like that, here are the words:
- Wer als erstes “bis” sagt, ist doof… ab jetzt!
- Whoever says “bis” first is stupid.. starting now!
“bis”… oh wait
Damn it, I think I just lost :).
Anyways, the concept of bis is the opposite of seit and ab. Those two indicated when something started.
Bis indicates the end of an action (or state). It is used for past, present and future and you already know it from the various good bye phrases like “Bis bald” “bis morgen” or “bis dann”.
- Ich war bis um 10 auf Arbeit.
- I was at work till 10.
- Ich bin bis um 10 auf Arbeit.
“I am at work till 10 (lit.).“ - I will be at work till 10.
- Ich bin immer bis um 10 auf Arbeit.
- I’m always at work till 10.
- “Hast du deine Hausaufgaben gemacht?”
“Bis jetzt nicht”. - “Have you done your homework?”
“Not until now/ Not yet.”
Does it also work with spans? Nope!
- Ich bin bis 2 Wochen in Paris… is wrong
If we want to use a time span, we have to do the same we just did with ab… double up on a preposition.
First, we indicate a point in time using the span and vor or in respectively. And then put bis in front of the whole thing.
- Bis vor 3 Wochen hatte ich nie ein Wort Deutsch gelernt und jetzt spreche ich fließend.
- I hadn’t learned one word of German until 3 weeks ago and now I am fluent. (#morefalsehope)
You can see that English uses the same mechanics… you need 2 prepositions to make it work, until and ago but in German, the prepositions are right next to one another so this might make it look odd to some of you. Anyway, people do talk that way and they even use it to say good bye
- Bis in 3 Tagen.
- See you in 3 days.
“Until in 3 days.(lit.)”
And speaking of good bye… this is actually it for today :).
There are some more things to know, namely the teams vor-nach and von-bis and the word her. But I think this is enough for one session.
The prepositions we learned today are the most important ones anyway. Here they are again with the question they are answering.
- vor (span) – How much time ago did something happen?
- in (span) – In how much time is something going to happen? and How much time did it take for something to happen?
- seit (point/ span) – For how much time has something been happening? Since when has something been happening?
- ab (point ) – From what point in time onwards will something be happening?
- bis (point) – Until which point in time has something been happening?
And now it’s time for you to test yourself with our little quiz.
And after that, as always, if you have any question or suggestions about the article or the quiz, just leave me a comment. I hope you liked it and see you next time… which according to some is also, what she said.
Emanuel – – You keep exceeding or excelling yourself! While not hugely complex, that explanation of the time prepositions was fantastic! You obviously know your stuff and are very good with the detailed explanations, examples and clarifications. I’m not quite sure how you plan these things out and ensure that they cover all the nuances, but they sure seem to. Thanks. These explanations are just the kinds of things I need and enjoy. I’ve read it through once and will comeback to it time and time again (pun intended!). Thanks!
These grammatical explanations developed entirely during teaching. I have never read a book on German grammar or anything about didactic in teaching German, which was for the best I think… . I just started teaching and I had to organize things myself. Fortunately German is actually not hard to organize :)
however, I did almost miss one meaning of ‘in’ and I did miss one of ab (just realized that today, when I read something in German)… it is nothing important but still, damn exceptions …
Don’t beat yourself up! It really is excellent stuff and I am getting so much out of it for my own German learning! Your lessons, while they don’t constitute a A-Z German course for me, they are so spot on for the kinds of things I need to learn at this point in my progress and I love just getting into these special areas and tying things together in some way. I will be doing a review of your BLOG for my website (I’mLearningGerman.com) in the not too distant future. Won’t be hard for you to guess it will be a positive review! Keep going! Cheers… Erik
Cool, that’s great to hear :)… thanks for all your feedback, I really appreciate it!
Hello, dude!
Your post finaally explained me the double-preposition usage. When I read something with, for example, “ab in…” I didn’t understand why the hell they used two prepositions, but now it’s clear.
In relation to the pink, fluorescent elephant (lol), how could I express that we saw a similar elephant two days before Monday? I mean, if we change ago for before, I think we could clearly express what we intended to (On Monday, I have seen the pink, flourescent elephant I had seen 2 days BEFORE.) Isn’t there any way to do that in german too?
Thanks for this excellent post :)
Oh sure there is, but that is a pointer… and those will be covered in the final chapter … or chapters I guess… there we will talk about how we can relate 2 actions in time and that is what we would need there… action 1 : seeing the elephant on Monday, action 2: seeing it 2 days before… especially the English before is a pretty mighty word, as it can have different functions and one is pointing or making reference to a point in time already established
This is a really old comment but I’m gonna respond here anyway. I am understanding correctly, that “On Monday, I have seen the pink, fluorescent elephant I had seen 2 days ago” is incorrect in english? To me, it makes perfect sense to say, “On Monday, I saw the pink, fluorescent elephant that I’d seen (I saw) 2 days ago.” Is this just a weird thing with my accent/dialect or am I not getting your point here.
Thanks.
I second that question :). English native speakers, please help!
HI! Can I ask for a favor? can you please put up an calender or something on the page? it would make it easier to go day by day instead of scrolling to the beginning each time and start from there… thanks a lot!
Hi I’m not sure what you mean exactly? Do you mean like you want to read one post in parts over a few days and jump right to the point where you stopped reading or do you mean a way to access the post you want to read without scrolling on the home-page? Because, if it is the latter, then I think your problem is solved :). All words of the day are accessible in the respective menu and the course posts can be found under Online course, each with a description and a link and there is no scrolling needed. I update this regularly so you can get to any post ever written with 2 clicks… ok sometimes I am a bit tardy with the update but I guess I’ll just do it right after posting from now on … the Home-menu is mainly due to the fact that I use wordpress. I do display 5 posts there but there is actually no point in doing so, it is more like a tribute to the blog thing…. so, does this help you? If not let me know, what you need and I see what I can do… :)
Thanks
I wa trying to differentiate the usage of war and hatte. I am pretty confused. Since you are already teaching vor and seit, bitte , can you help me with this as well?
Thanks a lot for these articles.. :)
And, you are simply awesome.. :D
Please do continue.. Thanks in advance.. ;)
Hey, great artical as always, but iv still got one questuon,
When dose one use “für”. Is it really as easy as just replacing the English translation of “for” with “für” as in: Ich habe gestern für zwei Stunde deutsch gelernt. I’m really confused about this
Generally yes, you can do it and it will sound genuine. But I think it is more common to either say nothing:
Ich habe 2 Stunden Deutsch gelernt.
or use the postposition lang
Ich habe 2 Stunden lang Deutsch gelernt.
There are cases when the für-version sounds best but I really can’t wrap my mind around it.
The typos
why we (are) talk about them (that)(this) late in
if any sition than a post-position. No idea!!
Fran(k)ly… it is nothing ….
•Ich habe seit einer Woche (kein) Fleisch gegessen
secretly eats bu(g)(r)gers.”? We played ….I hope!!
And thanks again :)…. as for the sition… I mean “sition” as is prepo- or postpo-sition. I’ve put it in quotes now and made it italic. And as for the “buggers”… I had no idea what this word means. I actually meant “boogers/bogeys” … I have never seen it written. I should have checked the spelling first.
[…] mine) link-uri către două articole privitoare la prepozițiile de timp „seit” și „vor”: ăsta și ăsta. Ca regulă frugală, „acum trei zile” este „vor 3 Tagen”, pe când „de trei […]
Hallo Emanuel! Say, rad article as usual :-) I’m wondering on the cases to put after those prepositions, now. My book says that **an, vor, in, zwischen** are to be followed by the dative when used in a temporal sense, but next in the book we have **in ein paar Minuten ist es soweit**, *it’s in a few minutes*. So what gives with **ein** rather than **einem**? Is it a difference based on timespan vs point in time? (And in which case, is *in a few minutes* describing a point in time or a timespan?)
Good question… you have to think of “ein paar” as an article as a whole… just like “some” or “einige”… it is an indefinite plural article if you will and it always looks the same…
– Ein paar schöne Leute essen. (Nom.)
– Ich sehe ein paar schöne Leute. (Acc.)
– ich esse mit ein paar schönen Leuten (Dat)
– Ein paar schöner Leute Schuhe sind auch schön (Gen.)
The last one teeters on the edge of wrong though :). Technically it is correct but no one wuld ever say that Hope that helps
Ein paar Fragen.
“Ich bin bis um 10 auf Arbeit.” Ist derselbe Satz ohne um richtig? Hat die Bedeutung sich geändert?
Wieso hast du “der” weggelassen? Ich meine sagt man nicht “auf der Arbeit”? Kannst du dazu was zusätzlich von dem Thema “nullartikel” sagen? Wann wird der Artikel nicht benutzt?
In den Übungen steht “Die Bar macht nie vor um 3 zu”. Kann man in diesem Beispiel auch bis verwenden?
Ja, in der Umgangssprache wird das “um” in diesem Satz oft weggelassen. DIe Bedeutung ist aber noch gleich. Vielleicht ist es mit “um” ein bisschen präziser. Du kannst zum Beispiel nicht sagen:
– WIr treffen uns 10 in der Bar.
Das klingt falsch.
“Auf Arbeit” ist standard, aber manche sagen, glaube ich, auch “auf der Arbeit”… vielleicht ist es so ein bisschen wie in Englisch “on vacation”… also rein von der Struktur her natürlich :). Mit Nullartikel hat das aber meiner Meinung nach nicht viel zu tun. Es ist eher ein fixe Phrase.Aber ich weiß um ehrlich zu sein nicht so genau, was ein “Nullartikel” ist.
Was das Bar-Beispiel angeht… nein, “bis” funktioniert nicht. Oder besser… rein technisch funktioniert es, aber es macht wenig Sinn. “Bis” ist immer für Prozesse, “zumachen” ist eher eine punktuelle Sache. Wenn du bis 3 zumachst, dann heißt das entweder, dass du bis um 3 brauchst um den Prozess “zumachen” zu beenden, oder es heißt, dass bis um 3 zu ist… so zum Beispiel, die Bar macht um 8 zu und bleibt dann bis um 3 zu.
Ich hoffe, das hilft.
Danke, hilft es auf jeden Fall.
– Selbstverständlich würde ich ‘um’ weglassen nur dann wenn zB. ‘bis’ oder so was ähnlich da schon steht.
– Mit dem Nullartikel habe ich an die Fälle gedacht, bei denen man keinen Artikel verwenden muss. Ich habe irgendwo gesehen/gelesen, dass man es ‘Nullartikel/Ohne Artikel’ nennt.
– Ich habe das anders gesehen. Wenn man sagt ‘Die Bar macht bis um 3 zu’, würde ich es genauso verstehen, wie du gesagt hast. (dass der ganze Prozess bis um 3 dauert). Aber wenn man ‘nie’ einfügt, wirkt es mir so, als ob man bis um 3 Uhr gar nicht macht, weil die Bar bis dann logischerweise offen ist.
Danke für die Erklärung.
Well i want to know whether these prepositions are followed by dativ or accusativ..(cases).
“vor” – Dative
“in” – works both ways, depending on whether you`re talking about “duration” (dative) or “point in time” (accusative
“seit” – Dative
“ab” – Dative
“bis” – Dative
Hey there! Thanks for wonderful articles. They did help me a lot with my German. I am waiting impatiently for the part 5.2. May I know if you’re planning to make it in the nearest future?
Hmm… to be really honest… I think not. I know I should have done it a while ago, but I just never felt like it. It feels like a chore and especially in summer I just can’t motivate myself enough. I’m sorry :).. the ones I was mainly going to talk about are “von” and “nach” though, nothing too special, maybe that helps. And if you have questions about time prepositions I’ll galdly try and clear it up.
Thank you really much, I just recently found your website and it’s awesome. Thank you again.
Amazing! You deserve some really great tacos for this awesome explanation!
I loooove tacos :D.. glad you like it!!
Hey! I know that a lot of people have already told you this… but your explanations are quite amazing! Not only you do it clearly but also you add a lot of witty comments that make learning such a great thing! Thanks for all! :)
Danke dir für das liebe Feedback. Freut mich, dass es dir gefällt :)
Danke für alle. Sehr sehr gut!
Kleine Korrektur:
– Danke für alles… mit “s”
Many thanks for this extremely helpful article. I was feeling very confused about this area of grammar, and things are a lot clearer now. I had been wondering what preposition to use for the time phrase in “I lived for a few years in Brighton”, and (thanks to you) I found that the answer is ‘no preposition at all!’ Of course, you don’t need a preposition in English either if you say “I spent a few years in Brighton”.
Glad this helped clear things up :).
As for the example… you can do either
– Ich habe (für) ein paar Jahre in Brighton gewohnt/gelebt.
I think the “für” gives it a bit more weight… without it it sounds a bit more casual. But maybe I’m reading too much into it. They’re really pretty similar.
Thanks again, for your speedy reply. I would say that German *isn’t* particularly easy, but Germans can be extremely helpful!
Thank you for this amazing explanation!
I have a question about the second meaning of “in” (“a general indication of a duration that is needed for an achievement”, and yes, this is completely understandable :) ). I’ve read somewhere that with things like Vormittag, Abend, and Morgen “an” should be used. E.g. “ich schaffe das an einem Abend”. Is that correct?
Yeah, that is correct.If you have more than 1, I’d use a different phrasing though
– Ich schaffe das an 4 Vormittagen
It sounds a little bit odd to my ears. Not wrong, but odd.
Which phrasing would you use then?
I’d say
– Ich brauche 4 Vormittage dafür.
Vielen Dank!
“Ich habe am Montag wieder den pinken, floureszierenden Elefanten gesehen, den ich schon vor 2 Tagen gesehen hatte.
On Monday, I have seen the pink, fluorescent elephant I had seen 2 days ago.”
Actually, in English, this would work, but the sentence would be “On Monday, I saw the pink fluorescent elephant I had seen 2 days prior.”
“saw” because the action is finished.
Prior, existing or coming before in time, order, or importance, leans closer the German “vor” and when combined with past perfect, it starts at the named time in the past, “Monday”, and then counts back from there.
Since the perfect tenses are very different in German than in English, I’m guessing we have to use “dann” or something?
z.B. If today is Wednesday… “Vor 5 Tagen habe ich einen pinken floureszierenden Elefanten gesehen, dann am Montag wieder den gesehen habe.” Ist das korrekt?
Not completely. What you were going for is this:
– Vor 5 Tagen habe ich einen X gesehen. Den habe ich (dann) am Montag wieder gesehen.
The dann is completely optional and doesn’t change the meaning. The “wieder” is the key here.
There’s another version though and that’s closer to English:
– Ich habe am Montag den X gesehen, den ich schon 2 Tagen zuvor gesehen hatte.
“davor” works too but sounds less elegant. Hope that helps. Thanks for the heads up on “prior”.
Hi there, dude you are awesome! such an inspiration :D I love everything you post :D
I would like to know which German preposition would it be better to use with the meaning of “for” in English when a reference is made to a timespan not relative to the present (current moment) in which the speaker is but to another point in time.
e.g.: “by December I will have been studying German for 8 months” or “I was single for 8 months before I met her”
My guess would be to use either “seit” or “während”
Thank a lot
So for this context the best would be …. nothing:
– Im Dezember habe ich 8 Monate Deutsch gelernt.
– Ich war 8 Monate Single bevor ich sie getroffen habe.
“für” also works. And the “seit” would work in the first one, but then the sentence would get more complicated
– Im Dezember werde ich seit 8 Monaten Deutsch gelernt haben.
Nobody talks like that. The best is really nothing.
– Ich war 8 Monate im Ausland.
– Ich habe 3 Stunden geschlafen.
– Ich dusche 1 Stunde.
Hope that helps.