In this lesson you will learn the prepositions which always take the accusative case. To see in Luxembourgish if you need to use the accusative or the dative case, you can look at 2 things:
Verbs & Prepositions
What are prepositions?
Prepositions are words that link a noun to the rest of the sentence. Examples of English prepositions include on, out, for, without, about and until, but there are many more. They are those little words that you don’t even notice you’re using, but which completely change the meaning of the sentence.
Using Luxembourgish prepositions is quite complicated because of the case system. The thing about Luxembourgish prepositions is that they affect the case of the noun that follows them.
There are two kinds of accusative prepositions:
- Those that are always accusative and never anything else.
- Certain two-way prepositions which are either accusative or dative, depending on how they are used.
Let’s learn in this lesson the 7 prepositions which ALWAYS take the accusative case:
Prepositions with Accusative
bis (until, as far as)
Beispiller (examples)
Bis e Sonndeg. See you on Sunday.
Dëse Bus fiert bis op de Kierchbierg. – This bus goes as far as the Kierchberg.
⇒Bis is mostly used in combination with another preposition and then it can be followed by the accusative or the dative case.
fir (for)
Beispiller (examples)
Ech hunn e Kaddo fir dech. – I have a present for you.
⇒In this sentence we have the personal pronoun “dech” (you) in the accusative case.
Mäi Mann schafft fir eng grouss Firma. – My husband works for a big company.
duerch (through, by)
Beispiller (examples)
Mir mussen duerch d’Stad fueren. – We have to drive through the city.
Oh, de Schaf geet net duerch d’Dier. – Oh, the wardrobe doesn’t go through the door.
géint (against)
Beispiller (examples)
Ech spille géint iech. – I play against you (plural).
Ech hunn eppes géint däi Frënd. – I have something against your friend.
ouni (without)
Beispiller (examples)
Gees du ouni mech an de Kino? – Do you go without me to the cinema?
In this sentence we have the personal pronoun “mech” (me) in the accusative case.
Ouni hien si mer zu 6. – Without him we are 6 (persons).
ronderëm (around)
Beispiller (examples)
Den Hond ass ronderëm eis gesprongen. – The dog jumped around us.
In this sentence we have the personal pronoun “eis” (us) in the accusative case.
Mir si ronderëm de Séi getrëppelt. – We walked around the lake.
ëm (for, about)
Beispiller (examples)
Mir kommen ëm den 2. Januar zeréck. We will come back around the 2nd January.
Learning tip:
I know—this sounds like a nightmare: How on earth are you meant to remember those prepositions? Well, I’m not going to lie. It’s hard. But, learning phrases with accusative prepositions in them is an excellent way to learn which case they take. You always have a phrase to refer to if you can’t remember off the top of your head. So for example, you might learn the phrase: “Ech hunn eppes fir dech.” (I have something for you). From the dech , you will always know that fir takes the accusative (if it were dative you would read dir).
Watch this lesson on my Youtube channel so to practice along with me (Übung – exercise)!!
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