Deutsch — Genitive prepositions
A set of prepositions such as während, wegen, trotz, statt, innerhalb, außerhalb and aufgrund require the genitive case: während des Krieges, trotz des Regens. They are common in written and formal German.
How it works
The noun after the preposition goes into the genitive, so masculine and neuter articles become des and the noun often adds -(e)s: wegen des schlechten Wetters, trotz des Sturms, während des Films. Feminine and plural articles become der: innerhalb der Woche, außerhalb der Städte.
Examples
| Preposition | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| während | during | während des Krieges |
| wegen | because of | wegen des Wetters |
| trotz | despite | trotz des Regens |
| (an)statt | instead of | statt des Autos |
| innerhalb | within, inside | innerhalb einer Woche |
| außerhalb | outside of | außerhalb der Stadt |
| aufgrund | on the basis of, due to | aufgrund eines Fehlers |
Good to know
In everyday speech many of these prepositions are used with the dative: wegen dem Wetter, trotz dem Regen. This is common colloquially but counts as non-standard in writing, where wegen des Wetters, trotz des Regens is expected. With a bare noun and no article, statt and trotz often stay in the dative anyway: trotz Regen, statt Geld.