Hello everyone,
and welcome to a new episode of our epic series Prefix Verbs Explained – today with a look at a verb that sounds like uncommon but that isn’t uncommon at all.
Because today, we’ll take a look at
The meanings of “ankommen”
Now you might be like “Oh, I know this. It means to arrive. I don’t think I need this lesson.”
But you DO need this lesson. Yes, ankommen does mean to arrive.
But that’s not the only meaning it has. Behold:
- Ob Thomas bei Maria gut ankommt, kommt drauf an, ob er pünktlich ankommt.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Yup, that’s a real sentence.
Ankommen actually has three main meanings:
- ankommen – to arrive
- ankommen auf – to depend
- ankommen (bei) – to be perceived
They sure do seem a bit random, but I promise you – with a bit of mind yoga, they’ll all make sense.
So let’s roll out the Yoga mat and jump right in :).
***
And we’ll start with a bit of a reveal.
“ankommen” as “to arrive”
That’s obviously not the reveal. Most of you know that they’re translations. What you probably DON’T know is that to arrive is actually a prefix verb as well.
Dun, dun, dun!
It comes from the Latin word arripare and that is itself a combination for the prefix ad-, which expresses toward and reaching, and the word ripa, which meant shore. And yes… that’s where the word river is from.
So the original idea of to arrive was to get to shore.
ankommen is less creative of a construction. It’s kommen with the an adding a notion of touching base after the journey.
Anyway, time for a couple of examples:
- Das Flugzeug kommt um 6 an.
- The plane arrives at 6.
- Ich bin gestern Abend angekommen.
- Maria arrived/came yesterday evening.
(note that spoken past goes with “sein”, not “haben” for “ankommen”)
There are a couple of noteworthy differences between ankommen and arrive though.
The first one is that ankommen ONLY works for arriving at actual locations. It does NOT work for arriving at conclusions, decisions or something other abstract.
There are several options for how to do this but generally, kommen is a relatively safe bet.
- Ich bin zu einer Entscheidung gekommen.
- I have come to a decision.
The other difference is that ankommen is very commonly used for letters, parcels and emails reaching their destination. To arrive would sound a bit pompous or old school and English typically uses different wordings.
- Ist meine E-Mail angekommen?
- Did you get my E-Mail?
(“Has my mail arrived?”) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And another use that to arrive doesn’t really share is the idea of showing up. Like… imagine going to a club where you need to wear a tie but you don’t have one. The bouncer might say this.
- Ohne Krawatte brauchen Sie hier gar nicht anzukommen.
- Don’t bother showing up without a tie.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Or to give you an even more abstract example… imagine you’re arguing with your partner and they bring up some issue that was already discussed and solved 5 years ago. That’d be a perfect moment to say this:
- Ach bitte, jetzt komm doch nicht DAMIT an!
- Oh pleeeease, don’t bring up THAT, ok?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Again, the core idea is that you “show up with something” and that’s just an idea that to arrive doesn’t share.
Generally, it is safe to think of ankommen and arrive as translations though. Not a perfect match, but who is, after all.
So, let’s move on to the second ankommen.
“ankommen auf” as “to depend on”
Ankommen auf translates to to depend on and once again, we have an English prefix verb hidden in plain sight.
To depend is combination of the prefix de- and the Latin verb pendere which simply meant to hang. Just think of pendant or pendulum.
So taken literally, to depend would mean “to hang off of ” and its actual meaning is just a figurative take on that. Just imagine you’re rock climbing and you slip – your life literally hangs on the the rope.
We also have this logic in abhängen von, which is the other German translation of to depend and which is equally common as ankommen auf.
But what about ankommen auf, why does that mean to depend?
Well, it makes a lot of sense once we think of it as:
“It comes down to…”
We have this notion of where something “lands” (arrives) but it’s used to express the idea of to depend.
Whether or not we get the funding comes down to/depends on this presentation.
Same idea, expressed through two different metaphors.
And this notion of “coming down to” is actually the key to understanding the difference between abhängen von and ankommen auf.
Both verbs are very common and they’re often interchangeable, but ankommen auf does NOT cover dependencies that are focus on “having a need” for something. Like drugs or a partner or whatever. For that, you do need abhängen, and all the related words like dependent, independent (unabhängig) or dependency (die Abhängigkeit) are based on abhängen.
Ankommen auf has more of a grounded vibe, and in a way, it’s about placing responsibility.
Let’s look at a few examples to get feel for it maybe.
- “Kommst du morgen zu meiner Party?”
“Das kommt darauf an, ob ich arbeiten muss.” - “Will you come to my party tomorrow?”
“That depends on whether I gotta work ?”
(“hängt davon ab” is also okay) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Gibt es in deutschen Bahnhöfen saubere Toiletten?”
“Das kommt auf den Bahnhof an.” - “Are there clean toilets in German train stations.”
“Depends on the station.”
(abhängen sounds a little odd here) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Oh Gott, ein Meteoroid rast auf die Erde zu. Jetzt kommt alles auf Superman an.
- Oh god. An asteroid is heading for earth at enormous speed. Now it is all up to Superman.
(“ankommen” is the much better choice) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Seriösität ist das wichtigste. Darauf kommt es an.
- Repute is what’s most important. That is what counts/ All come down to it.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Now you might be like “Can’t I just use abhängen all the time?”
Well… yeah, you can of course do that. But it may sound a bit off here and there, and there’s one thing you absolutely NEED ankommen for:
- (das) Kommt drauf an.
- It depends.
Anhängen does NOT work for that.
And yes, you do need to say drauf/darauf. You can’t just skip it. The phrase is ankommen auf, so the auf is “load bearing” here.
And if you’re wondering what case to use, because auf is a two-way preposition that can go with Accusative and Dative: ankommen auf goes with Accusative.
- Es kommt auf dich an.
- It depends on you.
That’s a general trend, by the way. The figurative or abstract use will usually (not always) go with Accusative, while Dative would sound like you’re actually talking about location.
Cool.
So that’s ankommen auf in the sense of to depend or to come down to and you should definitely start using it because it’s super common and sounds super authentic.
Now, let’s move on to the third meaning use of ankommen. It’s nowhere near as important, but it’s good to at least mention it.
“ankommen bei” for “making an impression”
Imagine you go to visit your new partner’s family for the first time.
When they like you, you’ll probably be received very well and you’ll feel welcome. So you “landed” well, if you will.
That’s kind of the logic behind ankommen bei, in the figurative sense of how something “lands” with someone. That can be a movie, an act, a person or just a comment at a meeting.
- Der Film Joker ist gut angekommen.
- The movie Joker was well received.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Eine Bierfahne kommt bei Frauen nicht gut an.
- Beer breath doesn’t go down well with women.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Der neue Chef kommt gut an.
- The new boss is well liked.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Thomas kommt gut bei Maria an.
- Maria likes Thomas.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
As you can see, the precise translation depends on the context, but I think you got the idea.
And so now, we’re actually ready to look at that sentence from the very start again, because now, it’ll make sense.
- Ob Thomas bei Maria gut ankommt, kommt drauf an, ob er pünktlich ankommt.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Did you get it?
Here’s the solution :)
- Whether Thomas will make a good impression on Maria depends on whether he will arrive in time.
Cool.
Now, those of you who’ve already done a few lesson in this prefix verb series will probably be like “Oh, I think we’ll do the r-version now.” and get really hyped up because everybody loves the r-versions.
And we’ll get to it, I promise. But for completion’s sake, let’s say a couple of other things real quick.
Other Use and Noun
First of, I want to give an honorable mention to ankommen gegen. It’s essentially a fourth meaning for ankommen, but it’s not important enough to get its own section.
Anyway, ankommen gegen means being able to stand your ground against some opposition. That can be a person but also noise or some force of nature. Just think of you walking against very strong wind. The verb does not imply “winning”, but it does imply that you at least don’t get blown away.
- Seine Stimme kommt gegen den Lärm der Flugzeuge nicht an.
- His voice doesn’t have a chance against the noise of the airplanes.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Meine Freundin kann sehr gut diskutieren. Ich komme gegen ihre Argumente selten an.
- My girlfriend can discuss very well. I rarely stand a chance against her points.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
If you’re in B2 level or C1, this use is a nice one to drop in a writing exercise or an exam, because it sounds really distinguished without sounding forced or learned. But if you’re a beginner, feel free to ignore it. I know, I know… you want to remember everything. But you cannot. It’s too much.
And you also don’t really have to make an effort to remember the noun die Ankunft, which means the arrival. You’ll see and hear it in train stations and airports, and in your sat-nav car system if you set it to German, but it’s not really something you need to use actively all that much. Well, I guess “geschätzte Ankunftszeit” (ETA) is a nice tongue twister.
And it’s worth remembering that -kunft is indeed based on the verb kommen. Most Germans don’t know this, but you as a learner find some really interesting connections with that. Like die Zukunft for instance, which means … but I’ll leave that connection up to you to make :).
Anyway, r-version, let’s do it and then wrap it up.
The Meaning of “rankommen”
No big surprises here. As usual, the r-version is a very literal, “spatial” take on the combination of verb and prefix and rankommen means “to reach” in the sense of being able to “touch”.
- Kannst du mir das Glas vom Regal geben? Ich komme nicht ran.
- Can you give me the glass down from the shelf? I can’t reach it.
German also has erreichen for this kind of reaching but it would sound WAY too epic for such a mundane context. rankommen really is the way to go here.
And it actually also works in more figurative senses.
- Einhornhaare?! Wie bist du da rangekommen??
- Unicorn hair?! How did you get a hold of that??
- Deine Präsentation war so gut, da komme ich nicht ran.
- Your presentation was so good, I can’t reach that level.
And then, rankommen and drankommen are actually ALSO used colloquially in the sense of someone or something getting their turn. Imagine you sit in a waiting room for instance, and then you’re called up. Or you have a lesson series and a topic is on the agenda next time.
- Ich weiß nicht, wie lange es dauert, bis ich (d)rankomme.
- I don’t know how long it’ll take till it’s my turn.
So actually, we have quite a few figurative uses for an r-version. It’s definitely a colloquial verb, but it’s quite common actually, so it’s worth adding to your active vocabulary. Just wait till you see it a few times and then start using it. It won’t be long.
And I think that’s it for today. Hooray!
This was our look at the various meanings of the prefix verb ankommen.
As always, if you want to recap the most important points and see how much you remember, you can take the little quiz I have prepared for you.
And of course, if you have any questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
further reading:
- Two Way Prepositions – Explained
- Prefix Verbs Explained – “abhängen”
- German Cases Explained – Part 1
- Verb Prefixes – A general look
Not the most exciting comment(s) to make here, unfortunately, but after the makeover there a fair few pieces of low-hanging, slightly fermented fruit to pick ;-)
==================
with depending and Germans say “It depends”. => with depending*,* and *how* Germans say “It depends”.
that’s where the word that river is from. => that’s where the word *for* river is from.
that they#re translations. => that they*’*re translations.
to rrive is actually a prefix verb => to *a*rrive is actually a prefix verb
Generally, it is save to think of => Generally, it is sa*f*e to think of
which the other German translation => which *is* the other German translation
Are there clean toilette => Are there clean toilet*s*
And it’s worth remember than -kunft is => And it’s worth remember*ing* tha*t* -kunft is
it would sound WAY to epic => it would sound WAY to*o* epic
are actually ALSO used colloqouial => are actually ALSO used colloq**uial*ly*
Yup, those were ripe! I shall make whiskey from them :)
> Der Film Joker ist gut angekommen.
> For all others, especially the depend–ankommen, the written past sounds more idiomatic – kam an.
So “Der Film Joker kam gut an” would sound better?
Super :)
I’m Italian and it is wonderful to understand at an old age like mine that “arrivare” means to finally come to a shore (riva in italian), while studying German. It took me one hour to go throu this lesson, the first one for me, but you can bet I enjoyed it!
I’m happy to hear that :).
I do have some little treats like that in the articles every now and then.
Another nugget you might enjoy is the origin of “rival”.Here’s a hint: “river”.
The origin is “neighbor on the shore”. With some cordial neighbor competition :)
Wonderful!
I have recently come across the word “rankommen” while talking to someone, and I have no idea what that means. Come already means to here, so its weird to see it with “her” which I assume is herankommen -> rankommen
It’s better to stop thinking of these r-versions as JUST a short version of a her-version.
For the meaning of “rankommen” here’s the entry in my dictionary:
https://yourdailygerman.com/meaning/gwa/kommen/ankommen-3/rankommen/
Thank you! Man I can’t thank you enough for all the work you do here! Much appreciated. I am really waiting eagerly for your book, btw any news on that?
We made some progress on the layout, that’s the choke point right now. We need to finalize what format exactly before it makes sense to do editing on the texts.
Hello Emmanuel,
After reading this post (and also the post about the dual-prepositions) I am still not sure when to use Akkusative or Dative with prepositions. Up until now I have always considered Akkusative to be movement with a destination-related:
– Ich gehe ins Kino/Ich fahre ins Meer/Ich gehe zum Bahnhof.
Here in your post the example:
– Ich komme an der Station an.
It is in the dative case, this is also a movement towards a place (with a destination). Why is it in dative or not in acusative? (or kommen makes no sense with acusative)?
Thanks,
Ask yourself where the arriving is taking place… at the station or to the station. That way you can see that it makes sense as a fixed location :). (though it would make sense as a destination as well).
Generally, this “destination” vs “fixed location” stuff is a TREND, not a rule. You will sooner or later run into another use that doesn’t fit.
Super post, wie gewöhnlich. But how does another seemingly common usage fit with this analysis? The phrase “Wie komme ich an . . . “? As in, “Wie komme ich schnell an Geld?” I hear a distant analogy to the English idiom “come on to,” but something like the simple “get” seems like the natural translation: “How can I quickly get cash”? And then there’s “bekommen,” as in “Wie bekomme ich Geld für . . . .”
Nice question!!
You have to make a distinction, though, between a prefix verb (ankommen) and a verb that goes with a certain preposition (an [etwas] kommen).
“kommen” combined with the preposition “an” expresses the idea of “reaching”.
Think about a person under and apple tree.
– Ich komme nicht an den Apfel.
– I can’t reach the apple.
So the example with Geld is basically that. It’s NOT the verb “ankommen”.
If you’ve read my series on prefix verbs in general, you might know that prefix verbs essentially evolved from verbs with prepositions. But it’s helpful to really think of them as distinct things.
Hope that helps :)
Most helpful. Thanks. I hadn’t reread the series, but now have. To say that prefix verbs essentially evolved from verbs with prepositions makes a lot of sense. And it does seem helpful to think of them nonetheless as distinct things, lexically and syntactically. Yet I also want to think of the base meaning (in this instance, “kommen”) as swimming in a kind of soup of particles that the base can attract. Sometimes attraction becomes a bond, which can have differing strength, ranging from a kind of affinity (verb with a preposition), to something magnetic (separable prefix verb), on to something so permanent that the prefix ceases to be separable (as in bekommen). The particles dance with the base meaning and possible actions (telic and atelic) and objects (concrete and abstract) in ways that create all sorts of different senses and nuances (takes a lot of Sprachgefühl to get what’s going on). What hooks up with what and when and where and to which effect keeps changing with context and time. But that’s the fun of it!
1)All uses – 1 sentence challenge ( the one up has only 3 uses
Albert,der spät angekommen hast,kommt nicht gegan Alex,der gut bei Susan hast angekommen.
2) Regarding the ankommen figurative use. Can it be used for abstract concepts?
Examples
Mit Alex hier brauchen Sie (zum ersten Platz/ihr Herz) gar nicht anzukommen.
1) Come on, that was sloppy ;)
2 x “angekommen ist” (nicht: hast), in the second part, the prefix is missing
2) I don’t know what you mean, please tell me what figurative use you’re referring to, and what do you mean by abstract concepts.
The example only makes sense if I ignore the stuff in ( ) .
Ah Dankeschön
2) I mean sth like (°arrive to your goals) for example
2) Ah, I see. No for goals, you use “reach” in German…. ich erreiche mein Ziel.
Well, you would use “reach” in english. When thinking about abstract concept “goal” seemed to be the only one that may fit.
Dankeschön
How to know if place requires an? Its has been confusing me. Auf/Am/Im/beim (Place). Some places can take both. Do you have a detailed perpostions Guide?
I haven’t written about which prepositions to use with which location yet, but “an” is pretty rare. The two locations I can think of of the top of my head are “Bar” and “Meer”
– Ich gehe an die Bar.
– Ich fahre ans Meer.
Oh and Tisch.
– Ich setze mich an den Tisch.
Generally, if your focus is that you go to be right next to something, then “an” is what you need, but most of the time you’re not going to say that in sense of location.
Hope that helps :)
Hey Emanuel! Is drauf a spoken form of darauf?
For the most part yes, but there might be instances where only one of them works. Why are you asking?
Just curious :) Probably better to use “darauf” trhen
No, absolutely not. Most of the time it will sounds overly stiff and some of the time it’ll sound wrong. That’s why I called the r-version its own name (and dr-version) because most textbooks and teachers treat them as shortened versions of “dar-” /”her-” which is historically correct, but it doesn’t reflect the reality anymore.
To give you an example: “drauf sein”.
– Ich bin gut drauf. (I’m in a good mood)
– Ich bin gut darauf (means nothing)
– Ich bin draufgetreten. (I stepped on it)
– Ich bin daraufgetreten. (sounds threatrical and weird)
But, I found the expression:
— That’s up to you.
— Das liegt bei dir.
from “bei jdm liegen”. Does it mean that whatever it is (decision, responsibility) is up to this person? And after reading the articles ankommen and abhängen, I would like to know this difference (if any).
Can it be translated by
— Das is von dir abhängig.
— Das kommt auf dich an.
Lastly, does it change if I want to add another sentence, like
— It’s up to you, etwas zu tun.
Thanks a lot!
Interesting question. All three have a slightly different focus. “von dir abhängig” is kind of about the person tipping the scale in one direction or the other.
“kommt auf dich an” can be a synonym but it also leans more toward responsibility. And “liegt bei dir” is kind of a (mild) call to action. No idea if that makes any sense.
As for the translation: to me “Es liegt bei dir” is the one that makes the most sense. People probably did use the other two phrasings, too, but if you think about it, it’s weird. And English, too, I believe
– It depends on you to do something.
Hi, Thank you very much for the explanation. I have just one question regarding this post, it has always bemused me:
Ohne Krawatte brauchen sie hier garnicht anzukommen.
Why there is a zu positioned between ankommen. Is there any grammatical reason behind it as a general rule?
Thank you very much. I am looking forward to your reply.
Yes, it’s a rule. “Ankommen” is a separable verb, so prefix and verb get split apart whenever you do something with it. With these verbs, “zu” goes between prefix and base, same as the “ge” when using the past.
– Ich komme pünktlich an.
– Ich habe versucht, pünktlich anzukommen.
– Ich bin pünktlich angekommen.
Hope that helps :)
HI, Thank you very much for the explanation. However, where does the zu come from in that particular sentence?
It’s used to connect the two verbs “brauchen” and “ankommen”. Basically like in English
– You don’t need TO come.
Only that in German, the “zu” is integrated into the word.
Hope that helps.
Hi! Thanks for the great article! It really cleared things up for me.
I was wondering more about the phrase “Wenn es drauf ankommt”. I know one of your translations is “When shit hits the fan…”, and I know what that means, but I’m still not quite sure how to use that colloquially in German.
For example, how would you translate “I left the party when shit hit the fan.”? Would it be “Ich hab die Party gelassen, wenn es drauf angekommt.”?
The party example you gave made me realize that “shit hits the fan” is not always a good match. I think “when it’s crunch time” is the better match.
As for the party example… the translation depends on what shit hit what fan, so to speak.
“Wir haben die Party verlassen, bevor… ”
“Crunch time” wouldn’t work that well (or at least I think it wouldn’t).
Let me know if that helps :)
Hi, may I ask the following questions concerning the verbs ‘melden’ and ‘anmelden’:
what’s the difference between the two: ‘sich zur Prüfung melden’ and ‘sich für eine Prüfung anmelden’ ?
Do they both mean ‘to register for an examination’?
What sense does the prefix ‘an-‘ add to ‘melden’ to become ‘anmelden’ in here?
Besides, I am wondering why ‘melden’ partners with ‘zu’ while ‘anmelden’ partners with ‘für’ ?
Does ‘sich für die Prüfung melden’ communicate the same info as ‘sich zur Prüfung melden’?
Does ‘sich für die Prüfung anmelden’ communicate the same as ‘sich zur Prüfung anmelden’ ?
Many thanks!
To me “sich anmelden” is the proper registering. “melden” sounds a bit more like “showing up” though that’s NOT what it means. I just wouldn’t use “melden” for the registering, is all.
What does “an” add here? The sense of starting and attachment.
Why do they use different prepositions? Why not? That’s just how it is. Asking “why” in context of preposition will never amount to anything.
“Sich für die Prüfung melden” is nothing I would say, but it’s also nothing I would note as wrong or weird. If you want to use proper high German, then don’t use it. For spoken it’s fine.
Could the third lankommen be to come across: “he didn’t come across well.”
I think that would be more “rüberkommen” but could you maybe give an example? There’s definitely some overlap
Can we use “auf etwas ankommen” with the meaning “it boils down to”? Somehow I got this meaning in my German class, and when I saw this in the dictionary I thought I was right:
Es kommt (mir) darauf an, dass … es ist (mir) wichtig, dass … (https://de.thefreedictionary.com/ankommen)
Yeah… the use you suggested is definitely correct but I’d be careful with “it boils down to”. I feel like the overlap between the two phrases is rather small. Boiling down is about what the essence of something is, “ankommen auf” is about depending on something. So only if there is something about depending in there the two could be a translation for each other.
gegen etw, ankommen = to cope with sth. Das hab ich auf der Internetsite https://www.dict.cc/?s=ankommen+gegen gefunden. Vielleicht ist das jemandem hilfreich. Sehr interessante Seite übrigens. Ich finde viele Erklärungen hier, die ich nirgendwo sonst gefunden habe.
Excuse me, I made a mistake in the first post. I wanted to say:
-Ich komme um 9 am Bahnhof an (also, Ich komme an der Station an)
-Er kommt auf deM Bahnhof an.
The three phrases use dative, they all have the meaning of arriving at some place, but in two cases you used “an” and in the other “auf”. What would be the difference?
Tough question… I really don’t know why I used either version so I guess it was just a whim. They are very similar. “Am Bahnhof” is more common, and probably better in most cases. “Auf dem Bahnhof” sounds more like “on the track/platform” but it might just be that “auf dem Bahnsteig” influences the other one.
Hallo Emmanuel! My question is about a sentence you wrote using two different prepositions:
-Ich komme um 9 am Bahnhof an.
-Er kommt auf den Bahnhof an.
In both cases the meaning is the same (to arrive), but the prepositions change: am Bahnhof (an dem), auf den Bahnhof. What would be the difference here? Is there some change in the meaning of the sentence?
Vielen dank! Your blog is terrific.
Hi Emmanuel! First of all thank you so much for your course, which is awesome (I will never thank you enough for explaining the difference between als, wenn and wann…. maybe one day you could make my world even better by explaining the negative form and the damn position of nicht ;))
Anyway, I have a question about the preposition auf, which can apply to other prepositions too. Today I colleague asked me if I want(ed? even my English has problems with if ;)) to do some sports on Saturday, and I was so proud of myself and so grateful to you when I answered: “das kommt auf DEM Wetter an”, which of course was a mistake, because I should have used akkusativ instead of dativ.
And here comes my question: when prepositions introduce more than one case (other great post about cases, by the way :)), is there any rule to distinguish which case this is? Or it depends only on the verb, so I have to learn each of them by heart? I understand the difference between preposition indicating movement, with akk, and preposition indicating something that stays in a place, with dat (but only because Latin works the same way ;)), but what about the case of “ankommen” meaning “to depend”?
thank you so much in advance
Letizia
I’ll definitely do the negative and the position of “nicht”… I just feel like I should wrap up a few other mini-series first. Anyway, I usually pick the topic on a whim so who knows.
As for the case used with two way prepositions… that is a very common question. The short answer is: if it really has nothing to do with location, then accusative will probably be right. Dative just sounds very “locationy”.
– Es kommt auf dem Wetter an.
That sounds like something is really arriving on the weather as in, on track 3 or something.
Another example
– Ich freue mich auf dir.
That means that I sit on top of you and I am happy about something.
If you want a little more detail you can check out my answer (and the other ones) in this forum:
https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/7675/how-to-determine-the-case-of-a-dual-prepositions-apart-from-movement
Ich hoffe, das hilft :)
Vielen Dank!!!! Ich gucke diese Website sofort! Und nächste(s?) mal, wird ich das gucken, bevor (oder vor?) zu fragen
(that was tought… I hope it isn?t sooo full of mistakes ;))
Ich korrigier mal:
– Ich gucke mir diese Webseite sofort an
Verb is “sich angucken”
– Und nächstes mal werde ich da gucken, bevor ich frage.
Now, I use just “gucken” because here the website is a location (“da” – “there”) . In the first sentence it was a direct object. “Bevor” and “vor” both don’t work with “zu”-constructions. You need a complete, boring side sentence with subject (ich) and conjugated verb (frage)
Hope that helps :)