German Prepositions Explained – “auf” – Part 2, mark the article as read and track your progress. If there were no contact, über would be used. Because all these words, auf, up, open, offen and also über and over come from the same dramatically ancient Indo-European root for upward. Erm… that’s short for Fixed Verb Prefix Combos that Go on Everyone’s Nerves. Great, I’ll twist and bend that till I have like a dozen meanings. Anyway, so each preposition carries a more or less “spatial” idea and the core idea of auf is the idea of on top. So… if you want to take a closer look at one of them, just click the link. It’s more of a continuum. Thus you say something auf Englisch (“ in English ”), but in gutem Englisch (“ in good English ”). das, die, der, den, diejenige. (stationary) Three German prepositions, in particular, can be tricky for beginners: in, an and auf. The cat is sitting on the table. If you’ve read a few articles of my series on Separable Prefix Verbs, you’ll know that many prefixes can add two notions to a verb. And .. ahem… a deeply rooted one. This meaning doesn’t fit in with either of the two cores.” If that happens, then just have some red wine. In fact, the more you study some words, the more confusing they may become. "aufs" is the contaction of "auf" + "das". If there were no contact, über would be used. So looks like it’s not just random. I’m trying to explain something here. The weird one.” But no, aufhören is actually still based on this upward idea. They damn sure do. on adjective, preposition, adverb. the article, pronoun. Ich fliege auf die Kanarischen Inseln I’m flying to the Canary Islands Although German is a straightforward language once you learn the rules, you can't always directly translate every word from English. Feel free to speculate on the comments. A fun and thorough look at the word "auf". Much easier and no risk of vomiting. Because… you know… German prefix verbs are not  like “Oh, this the core idea? auf means on top/on (with contact) in general: Der Computer steht auf dem TischThe computer is on top of the table. Like… is there even a connection? Read our privacy policy for more info. We'll learn when to use it for location, what it means as a prefix and we'll talk about the common combos, like "warten auf". But they also have a quite important function in a language: they express relations between action and entities of a sentence. auf is a two-way-preposition. Generally speaking, auf is used when referring to something being on a horizontal surface, as opposed to an, which usually points to a vertical surface. One is based on “locational” idea of the preposition, the other one is a random idea German has pulled out of  “Meanings for Prefixes”-hat, just for the lulz. in relation to, with respect to, with regard to, … of the, the, which, who, that. Now, the open-idea is pretty clear and easy to spot, I think. Meh… no idea if that makes sense. We’ll actually analyze them and see if there’s an underlying theme (hint: there is). and I’d say let’s jump right in… I mean on. ” And then there’s the r-versions and maybe the dr-versions and the related nouns. Anyways, the second idea of auf, the weird one, is open-ness. The preposition auf forms part of the group of prepositions that can be used in the accusative or dative, depending on the context. auf jeden Fall adverb. Take this example: Sure, context suggests that the beer is put IN the fridge but hey, we could also put it next to the fridge. “WHAT? If not, don’t worry. The thing that stands out most about "auf" as a locative preposition is that it can be dative or accusative depending on the type of clause, Auf is used with dative if the circumstantial complement of place implies location (without movement), Auf is used with the accusative if the circumstantial complement of place implies direction (with movement), Ich fliege auf die InselI’m flying to the island. Just like my jokes. verzichten auf verb. And a link to a separate article on the verb, if we’ve talked about it in the series about prefix verbs. Die Katze sitzt auf dem Tisch. Anyway, I hope you’ve got a rough idea, maybe even a feel for auf  as a prefix. auf means on top/on (with contact) in general: Der Computer steht auf dem Tisch The computer is on top of the table. Well, check out these two examples. You’ll understand if you take Ayahuasca like Eso-Hipsters do. in Bezug auf preposition, adverb. I think the missing link is a notion of coming into the open. In fact, take the English verb to open up (vs. to close down) boom, both ideas combined. Today, we’ll take a detailed look at. So auf must be one of what is commonly called two-way preposition. Like… literally. Dative “marks” something as answer to “Where something is (happening)”, Accusative marks something as a destination. Can you see a common theme ;)? The blog for all who want to learn German…, of something and Accusative tells us that, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-0.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-1-tasse.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-2-steuer.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-3-einhorn.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-4-katze.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-5-tastatur.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-6-muetze.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-7-party.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-8-sonne.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-9-wort.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-10-schild.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-11-aufstehen.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-12-aufgabe.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-13-aufgeben.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-14-aufhoeren.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-15-hosenstall.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-16-bis-wann.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-17-fenster.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-18-auflassen.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-19-schuh.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-20-heizung.mp3, https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/audios/auf-audio/auf-21-wasserhahn.mp3, German Main Sentences 2 – The Beginning and the End. 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