How and when should I use prepositions such as "um", "an", "bei", "dem", "zu", "zum", "zur", “von” in German?

A noun that is in the dative case is on the receiving end of something. I like to say that the nominative noun is the subject, the accusative is the noun that is being verbed and the dative noun receives the accusative noun. For example: Ich gebe ihm einen Apfel. Nom: Ich Acc: einen Apfel Dat: ihm (to him) The word “dem” is an article in the dative case. It is the masculine and neuter article in the dative case: das becomes dem der becomes dem die (fem) becomes der die (pl) becomes den The following words are actually two words put together: zum: zu + dem (in dative case) zur: zu + der (in dative case) These two words literally mean “to the” These words are prepositions: zu - to um - around an - at bei - with, at von - von, of zu, bei, and von all trigger the dative case. Ich bin bei meiner Arbeit: I am at my work …zu dem Arzt gehen: to go to the doctor (in this case, zu dem would be compounded in to “zum”) nicht weit von dem Krankenhaus: not far from the hospital um triggers the accusative case. um den See: around the lake an can trigger the dative or accusative case depending on how it is used. If it is being used to describe movement, then it takes the accusative case. If it is being used to describe the status quo, it takes the dative case. In other words, if the phrase answers the questions Wann? or Wo? It is in the dative case. If the phrase answers the question Wohin? then it is accusative. Accusative case of an: ein Bild an die Wand hängen: to hang a picture on the wall Wohin? It is going on the wall. Dative case of an: Das Bild hängt an der Wand: the picture is hanging on the wall Wo? On the wall. I love all things language and German so if you need additional help feel free to leave it in the comments! I hope this helped, case can be hard! read less