Pesky Prepositions:

At Easter time in (in) Germany, außer (aside from) the popular Easter egg hunt, there are also old Easter customs. My grandmother always used to tell me that young women would go to a brook am (on the) Eve of Easter Sunday and trickle water über (over) themselves. Durch (By) this practice they hoped to attain and preserve beauty. The catch was that they were not allowed to utter a single word auf (on) their journey. Whether or not it is true remains a mystery. I hope you all had a Happy Easter!

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Now for something completely different. What comes to mind when you hear words like construction waste, scrap iron, sheet metal, etc.? ...Scrapyard!

Swiss musicians Bubble Beatz recycle and collect such items and incorporate them in (into) their so called "Trash Machine." Going unter (by) the name of "most attractive scrap heap von der (of) Switzerland", Bubble Beatz jump herum (around) and deliver a wild, sweat-inducing performance mit (with) elements of house, industrial and drum 'n bass auf (on) said Machine.

So prepositions are on the menu today! Those essential little words that usually introduce prepositional phrases to indicate the relation between things in a sentence.

Take a look at a few examples:

Im Augenblick mit ihrer "Trash Machine" auf Deutschland-Tour.

At the moment with their "Trash Machine" on Germany tour.

Caption 4, Bubble Beatz - Supertalente vom Schrottplatz

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Some prepositions are identical in German and in English. But others just make us want to tear our hair out.

Ich hab' gesucht und gesucht

I've searched and searched

In den hintersten Ecken

In the furthest back corners 

Nach Augen, die mich interessieren

For eyes that interest me

Captions 28-30, Frida Gold - Wovon sollen wir träumen

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Das Tier um die Beine geschlungen und dann Kopf an Kopf posieren.

The animal looped around the legs and then posing head to head.

Caption 22, Summer Cheergirl - Fotoshooting mit Riesenschlangen

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If prepositions seem difficult, don't despair! As you know, practice makes perfect. So test yourself with these fun exercises here and here.

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Learning Tip

Choose a clip according to your level of proficiency. While watching it, click on the words whose meaning you’re unsure of. After watching the clip, access your flashcards by clicking the Flashcard tab. All the words that you clicked have been compiled into sets. Review your flashcard set. Now watch the clip again. Has your listening comprehension improved? Finally, speaking aloud in German, recount what you saw and heard in the clip. Summarize the gist. Try using words you’ve just learned. At first, this will seem difficult. But over time you’ll be amazed at your increased fluency!