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German-for-English-Speakers/prepositions/genitive-prepositions.md
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Genitive Prepositions German prepositions that take the genitive case — statt, trotz, während, wegen, and many others — with English equivalents, examples, and notes on dative alternatives. https://germanforenglishspeakers.com/prepositions/genitive-prepositions 2026-06-30

Genitive Prepositions

As mentioned in Section II.4, the slow death of the genitive extends to prepositions. You may hear some of the following genitive prepositions used with the dative case instead. We've noted a few where the dative is especially common.

Preposition English equivalent(s) Sample usage and notes
(an)statt instead of Statt der erwarteten Beförderung bekam er die Kündigung. (Instead of the expected promotion, he was let go.)
abzüglich less, minus abzüglich der Unkosten… (after expenses…)
angesichts in view of, given Angesichts der Tatsache, dass… (In view of the fact that…)
außerhalb outside of außerhalb der Stadt (outside the city)
bar devoid of, barring any Bar jeder Vernunft ("against all reason")
bezüglich (bzgl.) concerning, regarding, with respect to bezüglich unseres Telefonats (regarding our phone conversation)
binnen within [a time period] binnen einer Woche (within one week)
dank thanks to dank Ihrer Hilfe… (thanks to your help…) [also frequently used in the dative]
einschließlich including einschließlich aller Kosten (all expenses included)
infolge due to, because of infolge einer schweren Erkrankung (due to a serious illness)
inmitten in the middle/midst of inmitten der Menge (in the middle of the crowd)
innerhalb inside of innerhalb eines kleinen Kreises (within a small circle of people)
mangels for lack of (esp. legal) Das Verfahren war mangels Beweisen eingestellt. (The case was dismissed for lack of evidence.)
mittels by means of (esp. technical) mittels eines Schraubenziehers… (using a screwdriver…)
oberhalb above, beyond oberhalb des Gefrierpunktes (above the freezing point)
unbeschadet notwithstanding unbeschadet des zuvor Gesagten… (notwithstanding what was just said…)
ungeachtet in spite of Ungeachtet der Drohungen des Irans will Deutschland Sanktionen. (In spite of Iran's threats, Germany wants sanctions.)
unterhalb below, underneath unterhalb der Armutsgrenze (below the poverty line)
unweit not far from unweit des Hotels (not far from the hotel)
zugunsten in favor of, in the interests of zugunsten meines Mandanten (in the interest of my client)
trotz despite trotz des schlechten Wetters [GEN] / trotz dem schlechten Wetter [DAT] (despite the bad weather) — native speakers disagree; both are acceptable
während during Während des Semesters gelten folgende Sprechstunden… (During the semester the following office hours apply…)
wegen because of wegen Krankheit geschlossen (closed due to illness) [like dank and trotz, very commonly used in the dative]

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