Video 19: Wechsel Verbs (PDTA), SDMA Recap, and Verbs with Fixed Prepositions

Source: Roughly 2 hours 5 minutes total. Long stretches of this recording are silence, screen-share trouble ("the screen is just as yesterday... they are getting it fixed"), repeated filler/loop artifacts from the ASR (e.g. long runs of "hoy", "Gracias", "y"), and Spanish-language ASR noise from a mixed/garbled audio track — these are skipped below. Approximate topic ranges:

• 00:00–09:00 — Logistics: exam-sheet mix-up/attendance, screen-sharing technical issues, rapid-fire Präteritum verb-form drilling (single-word ASR lines, not reconstructable) — skipped
• 09:00–17:15 — Reading-comprehension text on workplace benefits (flexible hours, on-site childcare, health/fitness perks, free fruit) with vocabulary extraction, plus the fixed expression der eine … der andere — extracted below
• 17:15–21:20 — Quick-fire recap of accusative wechsel prepositions (gegen, entlang) and dative prepositions (von, zu, seit, nach, aus, mit, bei, ab, gegenüber), distinguishing gegen vs. gegenüber — extracted below
• 21:20–38:30 — Wechsel verbs (verbs that take both a person and a thing) and the PDTA rule; contrast with SDMA for wechsel prepositions like auf; pronoun replacement of dative/accusative objects — extracted below
• 38:30–59:00 — Introduction to verbs with fixed prepositions (feste Präpositionen): why SDMA does not apply, the zich freuen auf example, the 70-verb B1 list, and the wo(r)-/da(r)- question and reference-word system (including the -r- insertion rule before vowels) — extracted below
• 59:00–1:21:00 — Practice sentences (apologizing: sich entschuldigen für/bei, participating: teilnehmen an) building da(r)- and preposition+pronoun constructions; brief Präteritum continuation note — extracted below
• 1:21:00–1:39:00 — Long silent independent-work/test stretch — skipped, mostly silence
• 1:39:00–1:42:10 — Quick answer-checking ("I should give her the phone") and a student question on sich aufregen über (to be upset about) vs. wütend auf/mit for people — extracted below
• 1:42:10–2:05:40 — More silent work, then closing instructions: where to find the 70 verbs-with-fixed- prepositions list in the course book, a worked example (sich erinnern an + Dativ, teilnehmen an + Dativ), reminder that wechsel-preposition verbs don't use SDMA, and class sign-off — extracted below

Topics Covered

• Workplace-benefits vocabulary from a reading text
• Fixed expression: der eine … der andere ("one … the other")
• Personalbeauftragte and other workplace/HR vocabulary
• Recap: accusative wechsel prepositions (gegen, entlang) and dative prepositions
• gegen vs. gegenüber
• Wechsel verbs: the PDTA rule (person → Dativ, thing → Akkusativ)
• SDMA rule for wechsel prepositions (Stationary = Dativ, Movement = Akkusativ), contrasted with PDTA
• Pronoun replacement for dative/accusative objects
• Verbs with fixed prepositions (feste Präpositionen): why SDMA doesn't apply to them
• wo(r)- question words and da(r)- reference words, plus the -r- insertion rule before vowels
• Worked examples: sich freuen auf, träumen von, denken an/über, sich entschuldigen für/bei, teilnehmen an, sich aufregen über

Reading Text: Workplace Benefits Vocabulary

A short text about an employer's perks for staff (flexible hours, childcare, health, gym, free food) was read and discussed. Key vocabulary extracted:

• Personalbeauftragte (HR representative/the person at a company responsible for personnel matters) — e.g. Carla Schmidt, Personalbeauftragte bei der Firma Baumann → "Carla Schmidt, HR representative at the company Baumann."
• Kinder vom Kindergarten abholen — "to pick up children from kindergarten"; the text noted this is "kein Problem" (no problem) at this company, i.e. flexible enough to allow it.
• Gesundheit unserer Angestellten ist uns wichtig → "Our employees' health is important to us."
• Wir haben keinen Platz für ein Fitnessstudio → "We don't have space for a gym in the office," but staff können Tischtennis spielen oder mit einem Trainer Gymnastik machen → "can play table tennis or do gymnastics/exercises with a trainer."
• gesund und günstig — healthy and affordable (dishes offered every day in the cafeteria).
• umsonst — free of charge. The teacher flagged this as an important alternative to gratis ("many people use it") — e.g. fruit is umsonst für alle ("free for everybody").
• verbessern — to improve.
• Entscheidungen — decisions.
• allerdings — however/indeed (concessive connector).
• überhaupt — mainly/in general.

Fixed expression: der eine … der andere

When two unnamed people/things are contrasted ("one … the other"), German uses the fixed nominalized-adjective phrase der eine … der andere (with die eine for feminine). The teacher stressed this is a fixed expression to recognize, not a productive grammar rule to actively apply yourself:

• Der eine Mann möchte am liebsten am Morgen arbeiten und der andere … → "One person would prefer to work in the morning, and the other …" (contrasting two employees' preferred working hours from the reading text).
• Note: der eine can become die eine if referring to a feminine antecedent.

Prepositions Recap: Accusative, Dative, and gegen vs. gegenüber

A rapid drill recapped prepositions already covered in earlier classes:

• Accusative (wechsel) prepositions mentioned: gegen (against) and entlang (along).
• Dative prepositions mentioned: von, zu, seit, nach, aus, mit, bei, ab, gegenüber.
• gegen vs. gegenüber: gegen = "against" (e.g. opposing something/leaning against something); gegenüber = "opposite" (positioned across from something/someone) — the teacher had students contrast the two directly to avoid confusing them, since both start with gegen-.

Wechsel Verbs and the PDTA Rule

Wechsel verbs (the class's term for verbs that inherently involve both a person and a thing) were distinguished from wechsel prepositions. Example verbs given: erklären (to explain), erzählen (to tell), antworten (to answer), schreiben (to write), kaufen (to buy).

• These verbs always carry the sense of "someone and something" together — e.g. I am buying my son a toy, I am writing my mother a letter, I am telling my sister a story, I am explaining the students a maths question.
• Rule: PDTA — Person → Dativ, Thing → Akkusativ.
• Worked example: I am writing my mother a letter. → Ich schreibe meiner Mutter einen Brief.
  • Mutter (mother) = person → dative → der changes to der → meiner Mutter (dative feminine).
  • Brief (letter, masculine) = thing → accusative → einen Brief.
• Contrast drawn with STMA (the teacher's shorthand for the wechsel-preposition rule, elsewhere written SDMA — Stationary = Dativ, Movement = Akkusativ — see below): PDTA applies to wechsel verbs with two objects; SDMA/STMA applies to wechsel prepositions.
• Further example drilled in class: I am telling my brother a story. → Ich erzähle meinem Bruder eine Geschichte. (Bruder = person → dative meinem; Geschichte, feminine = thing → accusative eine.)
• I am singing a song for my sister. → Ich singe meiner Schwester ein Lied.

Pronoun replacement (Dativ/Akkusativ objects)

Once a sentence has one dative (person) object and one accusative (thing) object, either can be replaced by a pronoun without changing the NDA word order (nominative → dative → accusative):

• If you replace the person (brother, masculine, dative) with a pronoun: dative masculine er → ihm. Ich erzähle ihm eine Geschichte. → "I am telling him a story."
• If you replace the thing (Geschichte, feminine, accusative) with a pronoun: accusative feminine stays sie (feminine pronouns are the same in nominative and accusative). Ich erzähle meinem Bruder sie. (less natural to say aloud, but grammatically the pattern.)
• If both are replaced by pronouns: the accusative pronoun comes before the dative pronoun (reverse of the noun order) — Ich erzähle sie ihm. → "I am telling it to him." The teacher explicitly flagged this as the one case where, if one of the two objects is a noun and the other a pronoun, the pronoun is not automatically first — only when both are pronouns does the accusative-before-dative order apply.

SDMA Recap: Wechsel Prepositions

Revisited from A2/earlier B1 material as the rule that governs wechsel prepositions such as auf and hinter:

• SDMA = Stationary → Dativ, Movement → Akkusativ.
• Ich lege mein Handy auf den Tisch. → "I am placing my phone on the table" — movement involved (the phone goes from hand to table) → accusative (den Tisch).
• Das Handy liegt auf dem Tisch. → "The phone is lying on the table" — no movement, a static state → dative (dem Tisch).
• Example with hinter (wechsel preposition): Die Katze geht hinter das Sofa. → "The cat is going behind the sofa" — movement → accusative (das Sofa).
• A student asked whether SDMA only applies to nominative verbs in general; the teacher clarified: whenever a sentence has both a verb and a wechsel preposition, the preposition's rule (SDMA) always wins, regardless of what the verb itself would otherwise suggest.

Verbs with Fixed Prepositions (Feste Präpositionen)

This was introduced as a new, exceptional topic distinct from both wechsel verbs (PDTA) and wechsel prepositions (SDMA):

• A verb with a fixed preposition always pairs with one specific preposition, and that preposition's case is also fixed — it does not follow SDMA even if the preposition is normally a wechsel preposition.
• Core example: sich freuen auf (+ Akkusativ) = "to look forward to." Even though auf is a wechsel preposition and the sentence involves no movement (you are simply looking forward to something, not moving toward it — which by SDMA logic would suggest dative), sich freuen auf is always accusative by fixed convention: Ich freue mich auf die Party. → "I am looking forward to the party."
• The teacher's key warning: if you don't know a verb belongs to the "verb with fixed preposition" category, you will default to SDMA and get the case wrong. Roughly 90% of fixed-preposition verbs in this category take accusative; a smaller number take dative — these must be individually memorized, not derived from a rule.
• Scope for B1: 70 verbs with fixed prepositions total are to be learned (the course book lists them, with English meanings, at the back). B2 expands this list to 3–4 pages. The plan announced: learn 10 new verbs with fixed prepositions per day, with case (Akkusativ/Dativ) included, and daily testing on them starting the next class.
• Examples of verbs/prepositions named: sich freuen auf (+Akk, to look forward to), sich freuen über (+Akk, to be happy about), sich interessieren für (+Akk, to be interested in), denken an (+Akk, to think of/about), träumen von (+Dativ, to dream about/of), teilnehmen an (+Dativ, to participate in), sich erinnern an (+Akk, to remember), abhängen von (+Dativ, to depend on), sich amüsieren über (+Akk, to be amused about), sich entschuldigen für (+Akk, to apologize for something) and sich entschuldigen bei (+Dativ, to apologize to someone), sich aufregen über (+Akk, to get upset/worked up about), and kümmern um (mentioned as a pattern example without full elaboration).
• First two pages of the 70-verb list were flagged as the hardest to memorize; later entries reuse more familiar/common prepositions.

wo(r)- Question Words and da(r)- Reference Words

Carried over from A2 but reframed as essential for verbs with fixed prepositions, since the normal question words was, wo, woher etc. are not used here.

• Rule for asking about a person: Präposition + wen/wem (depending on whether the fixed preposition takes accusative or dative). E.g. Ich freue mich auf meine Schwester. → question: Auf wen freust du dich? ("Who/whom are you looking forward to?") — wen because auf here is accusative.
• Rule for asking about a thing (Sache): wo + (r) + Präposition, never was + Präposition.
  • Ich freue mich auf die Party. → Worauf freust du dich? ("What are you looking forward to?")
  • Ich träume von meiner Zukunft. → Wovon träumst du? ("What are you dreaming about?")
  • Wir sprechen über etwas. → Worüber sprecht ihr? ("What are you talking about?")
• The -r- insertion rule: insert -r- between wo/da and the following preposition only if that preposition begins with a vowel (including umlauted vowels).
  • Vowel-initial prepositions → worauf, woran, worüber (auf, an, über all start with a vowel).
  • Consonant-initial prepositions → wovon, womit (no extra -r- needed).
• The same -r- rule applies to da- reference words (used to refer back to a previously mentioned thing, analogous to "about it / for it / on it" in English):
  • da + r + Präposition before a vowel: darauf, daran, darüber.
  • da + Präposition with no -r- otherwise: dafür, damit, davon.
  • Worked example: Ich habe einen Fehler gemacht. Ich entschuldige mich dafür. → "I made a mistake. I am apologizing for it." (für is not vowel-initial, so no -r-: dafür, not darfür.)
  • Worked example: Es gibt einen Wettbewerb. Ich nehme daran teil. → "There is a competition. I am participating in it." (teilnehmen an + Dativ; an starts with a vowel → daran.)
• Important caveat repeated twice: da- forms (dafür, darüber, etc.) only make sense with prior context — they cannot be used as a freestanding first sentence, since there is nothing yet for "it" to refer back to. The teacher and a student explicitly confirmed this: a da-construction used as an opening sentence with no antecedent is wrong/incomprehensible.
• A separate, unrelated question word also mentioned in passing: was für (ein/eine) = "what kind of" — e.g. Was für einen Kuli benutzt du? → "What kind of pen do you use?" The teacher noted this is a distinct topic from the wo(r)-/da(r)- system and offered to revisit it separately if needed.

Worked Practice Examples

• I am apologizing to him [for being late/whatever]. → verb sich entschuldigen takes two possible fixed prepositions: für (+Akk, "to apologize for") and bei (+Dativ, "to apologize to [someone]"). Since the sense here is "to," bei is used: Der Lehrer war so gut, ich entschuldige mich bei ihm. — "ihm" because bei is dative and the antecedent (a male person, "der Lehrer" replaced by pronoun) is masculine: er → ihm in dative.
• I made a mistake. I am apologizing for it. → Ich habe einen Fehler gemacht. Ich entschuldige mich dafür. (thing → da- construction, no -r- since für isn't vowel-initial).
• There is a competition. I am participating in it. → Es gibt einen Wettbewerb. Ich nehme daran teil. (teilnehmen an +Dativ; thing → daran).
• sich aufregen über (+Akkusativ) = to get upset/worked up about. A student asked whether this verb can be used for being angry about a person; the teacher clarified: sich aufregen über + Akkusativ can indeed apply to a person ("to get upset about a person") and still takes accusative, because the case is fixed to the verb+preposition pair regardless of whether the object is a person or a thing — it does not switch to dative just because the object is a person. (Contrasted with being "angry with" someone, which uses a different expression, not aufregen über.)
• A student also asked whether bei could be used the same way as in sich entschuldigen bei elsewhere (i.e., reused loosely as a normal preposition outside the fixed-verb context). The teacher's answer: that would be understandable/correct as plain language use, but it would not count as an instance of the official "verb with fixed preposition" pattern for exam purposes.

Notes & Tips

• PDTA vs. SDMA/STMA: keep these separate. PDTA (Person-Dativ, Thing-Akkusativ) is for wechsel verbs with two objects (a person and a thing), e.g. erzählen, schreiben, erklären. SDMA (Stationary-Dativ, Movement-Akkusativ) is for wechsel prepositions like auf, hinter, an. When both a verb and a wechsel preposition appear together, the preposition's rule (SDMA) overrides whatever the verb might otherwise suggest — except for verbs with fixed prepositions, where the fixed case overrides SDMA entirely.
• Verbs with fixed prepositions are pure exceptions — don't try to derive their case from SDMA or any general logic; they must be memorized individually, ideally with their English meaning and case together (e.g. "sich freuen auf + Akkusativ = to look forward to").
• When forming questions or back-references for verbs with fixed prepositions: use wen/wem for people, and the wo(r)-/da(r)- system for things — never was + preposition.
• Remember the -r- insertion rule: add -r- before a preposition that starts with a vowel (including umlauts); otherwise don't.
• da(r)- constructions require prior context — never open a sentence/exam answer with a bare dafür/darüber/daran with nothing preceding it for "it" to refer to.
• The teacher announced a study plan: 10 verbs-with-fixed-prepositions per day, tested daily going forward — a strong hint this is a recurring exam-relevant memorization burden for the rest of the B1 course, not a one-off topic.
• The full 70-verb list (with English glosses) is in the course book's appendix pages; in the textbook's own grammar pages the same list appears without English translations.