Prepositional Verbs
Preposition वाली क्रियाएँ
Many German verbs are permanently bonded to a specific preposition and case, much like Hindi's "इंतज़ार करना...का" or "निर्भर करना...पर" — the challenge is that the German preposition rarely matches the Hindi postposition, so these have to be learned as fixed units.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Fixed verb + preposition + case pairs
Ich warte auf den Bus. (I'm waiting for the bus.)
मैं बस का इंतज़ार कर रहा हूँ।
Hindi verbs also attach to specific postpositions (इंतज़ार करना...का, निर्भर करना...पर, दिलचस्पी होना...में), so this idea isn't new — but the specific postposition/preposition almost never matches across languages. warten auf ('to wait for', literally 'to wait on'), sich freuen auf ('to look forward to'), denken an ('to think about', literally 'to think on'), sich interessieren für ('to be interested in', literally 'to be interested for'). Each pair also fixes a case (here auf + accusative, since it's direction/goal-oriented), so these have to be memorized as whole units — verb + preposition + case — not assembled piece by piece.
da-compounds replace 'preposition + it/that'
Ich freue mich darauf. (I'm looking forward to it.)
मुझे इसका इंतज़ार है।
When the object of a prepositional verb is a thing or idea rather than a person, German can't just say auf es — instead it fuses da(r) + preposition into one word: darauf, damit, dafür, daran (the -r- is inserted before a vowel-initial preposition, so darauf, not daauf). Hindi has no direct equivalent, so learn this as a new German-specific construction. For people, the ordinary preposition + pronoun stays (Ich freue mich auf ihn — 'I'm looking forward to him').
wo-compounds ask the question form
Worauf wartest du? (What are you waiting for?)
तुम किस चीज़ का इंतज़ार कर रहे हो?
The question form follows the same fusion logic: wo(r) + preposition asks about a thing (worauf, womit, wofür, woran), while wen/wem + preposition asks about a person (Auf wen wartest du? — 'Who are you waiting for?'). In Hindi's "किस चीज़ का इंतज़ार", the postposition stays in its normal sentence position; German instead fuses it into one word attached to the question word.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| warten auf (+Akk) | VAR-ten owf | इंतज़ार करना (...का)intzār karnā | to wait for |
| sich freuen auf (+Akk) | zikh FROY-en owf | इंतज़ार होना / उत्सुक होनाintzār honā / utsuk honā | to look forward to |
| sich freuen über (+Akk) | zikh FROY-en UE-ber | खुश होना (...पर)khuś honā | to be happy about |
| denken an (+Akk) | DENK-en ahn | के बारे में सोचनाke bāre meñ socnā | to think of/about |
| sich interessieren für (+Akk) | zikh in-ter-es-EE-ren fuer | में दिलचस्पी होनाmeñ dilcaspī honā | to be interested in |
| teilnehmen an (+Dat) | TILE-nay-men ahn | में हिस्सा लेनाmeñ hissā lenā | to take part in |
| sich erinnern an (+Akk) | zikh air-IN-ern ahn | याद आनाyād ānā | to remember |
| Angst haben vor (+Dat) | ahngst HAH-ben for | से डरनाse ḍarnā | to be afraid of |
| sprechen über (+Akk) | SHPREKH-en UE-ber | के बारे में बात करनाke bāre meñ bāt karnā | to talk about |
| abhängen von (+Dat) | AHP-heng-en fon | पर निर्भर करनाpar nirbhar karnā | to depend on |
| sich bedanken für (+Akk) | zikh beh-DAHNK-en fuer | के लिए धन्यवाद देनाke lie dhanyavād denā | to thank for |