Two-Way Prepositions
ಎರಡು-ವಿಭಕ್ತಿಯ ಪೂರ್ವಪದಗಳು
Nine German prepositions — in, an, auf, über, unter, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen — can take either accusative or dative, and the choice itself carries meaning: motion toward a place uses accusative, staying in a place uses dative.
Grammar Comparison
ವ್ಯಾಕರಣ ಹೋಲಿಕೆ
Motion vs. location, marked by case instead of a different word
Ich gehe in die Küche. (accusative — motion INTO the kitchen) vs. Ich bin in der Küche. (dative — location IN the kitchen)
ನಾನು ಅಡುಗೆಮನೆಗೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ (direction, -ಗೆ) vs. ನಾನು ಅಡುಗೆಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೇನೆ (location, -ಅಲ್ಲಿ)
Kannada already draws this exact distinction with two different suffixes: -ಗೆ for movement toward or into a place, and -ಅಲ್ಲಿ for simply being located there. German draws the identical distinction, but instead of changing the postposition-suffix, it keeps the same preposition (in) and changes the case of the noun that follows — accusative for motion, dative for static location. If you already know which Kannada suffix you'd reach for, you already know which case German wants.
Vocabulary
ಪದಗಳು
- Kannada
- -ಅಲ್ಲಿ (static) / -ಗೆ (motion)-alli / -ge
- English
- in / into
- Kannada
- ಹತ್ತಿರ (static) / ಕಡೆಗೆ (motion)hattira / kadege
- English
- at / on (vertical surfaces)
- Kannada
- ಮೇಲೆ (static) / ಮೇಲಕ್ಕೆ (motion)mele / melakke
- English
- on (horizontal surfaces)
- Kannada
- ಮೇಲೆmele
- English
- over / above
- Kannada
- ಕೆಳಗೆkelage
- English
- under
- Kannada
- ಮುಂದೆmunde
- English
- in front of
- Kannada
- ಹಿಂದೆhinde
- English
- behind
- Kannada
- ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿpakkadalli
- English
- next to
- Kannada
- ನಡುವೆnaduve
- English
- between