Verbs with fixed prepositions (warten auf…)

You wait FOR a bus in English and ON one in German — warten auf. There is no logic to recover here and no rule to apply: the preposition is part of the verb, the way sich is part of a reflexive verb. Learn the two together as one item and you will never have to guess.

The pairs worth having by heart

Verb, preposition, and the case it forces

German	Case	English
warten auf	accusative	to wait for
denken an	accusative	to think of
sich freuen auf	accusative	to look forward to
sich freuen über	accusative	to be pleased about
sich interessieren für	accusative	to be interested in
sich erinnern an	accusative	to remember
sich kümmern um	accusative	to take care of
bitten um	accusative	to ask for
achten auf	accusative	to pay attention to
teilnehmen an	dative	to take part in
abhängen von	dative	to depend on
bestehen aus	dative	to consist of
Angst haben vor	dative	to be afraid of
gehören zu	dative	to be part of

Tipp · auf, an, über, vor and in are two-way prepositions everywhere else in German — dative for position, accusative for movement. That choice does NOT apply here. When a verb fixes a preposition, it fixes the case with it, and no amount of asking wo? or wohin? will help. warten auf is accusative because warten says so.

The pair that changes meaning

sich freuen takes two different prepositions and they are not interchangeable — the choice says when the thing happens.

Ich freue mich auf das Wochenende.
I'm looking forward to the weekend.
auf — still to come
Ich freue mich über das Geschenk.
I'm pleased about the present.
über — already happened
Ich denke oft an dich.
I often think of you.
an + accusative for people and things you have in mind

When the object is a thing: da-compounds

German does not like a preposition followed by a pronoun for a thing. Instead of “auf es” you fuse the two into one word beginning with da-, and an -r- slips in when the preposition starts with a vowel.

Wartest du auf den Bus? — Ja, ich warte darauf.
Are you waiting for the bus? — Yes, I'm waiting for it.
da + r + auf, because auf starts with a vowel
Ich erinnere mich daran.
I remember it.
an → daran
Das hängt davon ab.
That depends on it.
von → davon, no -r- needed

People keep their pronouns: “Ich warte auf ihn” (I'm waiting for him), never “darauf”. The da- form is for things and for whole clauses. To ask about one, swap da- for wo-: Worauf wartest du? Woran denkst du?

Common mistakes

✗Ich warte für dich.
✓Ich warte auf dich.
A direct translation of “wait for”. German uses auf, and it takes the accusative.
✗Ich freue mich für das Wochenende.
✓Ich freue mich auf das Wochenende.
für belongs to sich interessieren, not sich freuen. For something still to come you need auf.
✗Ich interessiere mich in Musik.
✓Ich interessiere mich für Musik.
English “interested in” pushes you to in. German fixes für + accusative.
✗Ich erinnere mich von dem Tag.
✓Ich erinnere mich an den Tag.
an + accusative. von is what abhängen and bestehen take, and the verbs do not share.
✗Ich warte auf es.
✓Ich warte darauf.
A preposition plus a pronoun for a thing fuses into a da-compound. Only people keep the plain pronoun — auf ihn, auf sie.
✗Ich nehme an den Kurs teil.
✓Ich nehme am Kurs teil.
teilnehmen fixes an + DATIVE, so it is am Kurs (an dem), not an den. Most of the verbs on this page take the accusative, which is exactly why the dative handful needs learning separately.