Advent Calendar 14 – “Prep School”

Hallo ihr lieben,

und willkommen zu Tag 14 von unserem Adventskalender. Und heute müsst ihr wieder aktiv werden mit ein bisschen Training zu

Verben und Präpositionen

We all know the problem: lots of verbs function with a specific preposition and which one it is, is something you just have to pick up over time. And let me tell you… it’s a journey that NEVER ends.  I’ve been learning English for almost 200 years now and still have to look up combinations in English.

The exercise today gives you some of the most common daily verbs with their preposition. And not only that.
You also get to train wo-words and da-words  because they’re just so connected to the whole thing.
Let’s do an example:

• ___ wartest du? ____ den Bus.

The verb is warten, and the first step is knowing that warten works with auf. Then, you have to form the wo-word with auf – worauf – and you have the first blank filled. For the second blank you have to check whether you need a da-word or just the preposition. The da-word is what you need when the stuff you’re waiting for is phrased as an action, the preposition is what you need when it’s frames as a thing. 

• Worauf wartest du?                 Auf den Bus. 
• Worauf wartest du?                  Darauf, dass der Bus kommt.

Now you might feel a bit intimidated but I think it’s a pretty natural setup. If you’re new to this just go over the sheet once to check it all out and then start going for it.

Just like with the case work out we did a few days ago, the solution is right next to the sentence so you don’t have to jump to the bottom all the time. And you should do the exercise several times, either with a separate piece of paper or (and that’s the best) by reading it out loud. Ideally until it really bores you. You don’t always have to do the whole thing. Just a few sentences on the toilet or in the bus here and there will fix patterns in your mind. And don’t get mad at yourself if you get it wrong. Just keep doing it.
“Steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein.” as we say in German. 

If you have any questions about this exercise or the wo-words or da-words, let me know in the comments. And also let me know if you like this kind of exercise. Oh and to enter the competition for today’s giveaway, tell us another verb-preposition combination that you’ve come across, ideally with an example.
Viel Spaß und bis morgen.

Verbs and Prepositions Work Out (pdf)