One preposition that we don't have in English is bei. It means 'at the home of' or 'at the shop of' or more simply 'at'. It sounds like the English word 'by' as it follows the rule that the German letters 'ei' sound like eye and ie sound like ee. As there is no sense of movement bei only takes the dative case.
We would normally say 'he works with a big company' but in German you have to think 'bei'. Er arbeitet bei einer großen Firma. Er ist beim Fleischer oder beim Metzger. Ich kann bei mir fernsehen. Notice that if you say 'bei dem' you can shorten it to 'beim'.
Do you know the traditional Scottish song 'My bonnie lies over the ocean'? The Beatles recorded it partly in German. "Mein Herz ist bei dir nur". Obviously there is artistic and poetic licence to song lyrics, but you can see that there may not be an obvious translation for a prepostion. However you should know what "Mein Herz ist bei dir nur" means.
Bis bald
About Me
- Michael Gradwell
- I enjoy languages and music and for many years I played folk and classical guitar. I still do, but in recent years the ukulele has been the instrument that I have played the most. I now have an eight-string and a four-string tenor, a concert, a soprano and even a tiny piccolo ukulele. I have many other interests, including a lifelong interest in politics, and because of this I have several blogs, including politics for novices. If you came to this page from one of my blogs and don't know about the others, you may like to check them out. Please feel free to comment on any of the blogs - let me know what you think!
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