A1 · beginner #OHNE

the preposition ohne

die Präposition ohne

ohne (“without”) is a preposition that always takes the Akkusativ: ohne dich, ohne Zucker.

Learners forget that ohne always takes the Akkusativ and reach for the Dativ instead. The no-article rule (Nullartikel) for “none at all” trips people up too.

Contents

ohne always takes the Akkusativ — ohne mich/dich/ihn

ohne always takes the Akkusativ. No exceptions. Pronouns appear in their Akkusativ form: mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie/Sie. You never use the Dativ forms (mir, dir, ihm and so on).

When you mean “nobody there” or “no … at all”, you put the Akkusativ object right after ohne. Example: Ich gehe ohne dich. (I’m going without you.)

Person	Nominativ	Akkusativ (ohne +)
ich	ich	ohne mich
du	du	ohne dich
er	er	ohne ihn
sie	sie	ohne sie
es	es	ohne es
wir	wir	ohne uns
ihr	ihr	ohne euch
sie/Sie	sie/Sie	ohne sie / ohne Sie

Every pronoun takes its Akkusativ form after ohne — no pronoun is an exception.

After ohne the article usually DROPS: ohne Auto, ohne Geld, ohne Zucker

When ohne expresses a general, unspecific “none at all”, “not containing”, “lacking”, you leave out the article (der, die, das, ein, eine). German calls this the Nullartikel (zero article). It happens most with substances and mass nouns (Wasser, Zucker, Geld), abstract things (Zeit, Angst) and plurals (Autos).

If you mean one specific thing (“without that car”, “without your money”), the article or a possessive (mein, dein, der, den) does appear.

No article (general / “none at all”)	With article (specific / “that, this, your…”)
ohne Auto (without a car)	ohne das Auto (without that car)
ohne Geld (without money)	ohne mein Geld (without my money)
ohne Zucker (without sugar)	ohne den Zucker (without that sugar)
ohne Probleme (without problems)	ohne diese Probleme (without these problems)

The rule is simple: if you mean “any / none at all”, write no article; if you mean “that / this particular one”, write the article.

Ohne mich geht es nicht. It doesn’t work without me. pronoun + Akkusativ
Kaffee ohne Zucker. Coffee without sugar. Nullartikel (substances)
Wir fangen ohne den Chef an. We’re starting without the boss. specific person + article
Sie reist ohne ihr Handy. She’s travelling without her phone. possessive (ihr) + Akkusativ
Er ging, ohne zu grüßen. He left without saying hello. ohne ... zu + infinitive
Er ging, ohne dass ihn jemand sah. He left without anyone seeing him. → different subject ohne dass + subordinate clause

mit and ohne are opposites in meaning, but their CASES differ

In meaning, mit (with) and ohne (without) are exact opposites. Their case is not the same, though: mit always takes the Dativ, ohne always takes the Akkusativ. This mismatch is the most common source of mistakes with the pair.

In English, “with you” and “without you” look perfectly symmetrical — “you” never changes. German feels the difference: mit dir (Dativ) but ohne dich (Akkusativ). Saying *ohne dir is flatly wrong.

Preposition	Case	Example (du)	Example (ich)
mit	Dativ	mit dir	mit mir
ohne	Akkusativ	ohne dich	ohne mich

The mismatch is just how the language is built, so don’t hunt for logic; memorise “mit = Dativ, ohne = Akkusativ”.

The “ohne ... zu” structure: Er ging, ohne etwas zu sagen

ohne ... zu builds an infinitive group (Infinitivgruppe) that means “without doing …”. You use it when the subject of the main clause and the subject of the zu group are the same. The zu goes at the end, right before the verb (with separable verbs it sits between the prefix and the stem: anzuklopfen).

Example: Er ging, ohne ein Wort zu sagen. (He left without saying a word.) If the second clause has a different subject (Er ging, ohne dass sie es merkte.), you build ohne dass + a full clause instead.

German	English
Er ging, ohne ein Wort zu sagen.	He left without saying a word.
Sie verließ das Haus, ohne sich umzudrehen.	She left the house without turning around.
Wir aßen, ohne zu sprechen.	We ate without talking.
Er öffnete die Tür, ohne anzuklopfen.	He opened the door without knocking.

Same subject in both parts: “ohne ... zu”. Different subject: “ohne dass”.

Traps

TRAP 01

Trap 1: *ohne dir (using the Dativ)

Because mit takes the Dativ, your brain applies the same pattern to ohne automatically. But ohne takes the Akkusativ, full stop.

*Ich fahre ohne dir.

Wrong: “dir” is a Dativ pronoun. “ohne” takes the Akkusativ.

Ich fahre ohne dich.

Correct: “dich” is the Akkusativ pronoun.

TRAP 02

Trap 2: an unnecessary article with general things (*ohne das Wasser)

For “without water”, “without money”, “without sugar” — general lack — you drop the article. English does the same: you say “without water”, not “without the water”. German is no different: you say Wasser, not das Wasser.

Ich trinke Kaffee *ohne den Zucker.

Wrong: “Zucker” here is a general lack, so the article is unnecessary.

Ich trinke Kaffee ohne Zucker.

Correct: Nullartikel (no article).

TRAP 03

Changing the subject inside ohne … zu

ohne … zu works only when both parts have the same subject. If the subject changes, you need ohne dass.

Ich ging, ohne er es merkte.

the subject changed → ohne dass

Ich ging, ohne dass er es merkte.

I left without him noticing.

Practice now

What you just learned

Ich gehe ohne ___ . (without you)
Show the answer
dich. The preposition ohne (without) always takes the Akkusativ, no exceptions. That is why du becomes dich.
The sentence “Ich trinke Kaffee ohne dem Zucker.” is correct.
Show the answer
False. Here the sentence expresses a general lack, so there is no article. Correct: ohne Zucker. And ohne never takes the Dativ anyway.
How do you say “tea without sugar”?
Show the answer
Tee ohne Zucker is correct. “Without sugar” is a general lack (Nullartikel), so the article is left out. ohne den Zucker is only used if you mean one particular sugar (say, the sugar on the table); ohne der Zucker is never possible, because ohne takes the Akkusativ.

The other Akkusativ prepositions

Same group

Prepositions — overview the preposition für the preposition um the preposition gegen the preposition durch

07Build

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Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.

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Tips

Know this before the test

The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.

ohne always takes the Akkusativ
ohne meinen Bruder · ohne dich · ohne das Auto — no exceptions.
Geh nicht ohne mich!
With a bare noun: the article drops
ohne Zucker · ohne Geld · ohne Löffel — when you mean “without” in general, there is no article.
Tee ohne Zucker
ohne … zu = “without …ing”
Something the same subject doesn’t do: ohne zu fragen (without asking) · ohne auf dich zu warten (without waiting for you).
Er ging, ohne Tschüss zu sagen.
Its opposite is mit
The ordering-and-recipe pair: mit oder ohne Sahne?
mit ↔ ohne

ohne meinem Bruder
ohne meinen Bruder
ohne never takes the Dativ.
ohne dem Zucker
ohne Zucker
For a general “without”, no article comes either.
Er ging, ohne sagen Tschüss.
Er ging, ohne Tschüss zu sagen.
ohne with an infinitive needs zu, and the verb goes to the end.
Ohne dich ich gehe nicht.
Ohne dich gehe ich nicht.
The phrase in front fills the first position; the verb comes second.

0707:30

Test yourself

Tap an answer — we will look at why together.

Choose the right completion for “I can’t do it without his help”: Ich schaffe das nicht Hilfe.

ohne seine is correct because Hilfe (help) is feminine, so the Akkusativ is die Hilfe. The possessive sein becomes seine in the feminine Akkusativ. seinem is Dativ; sein is masculine Nominativ or neuter Nominativ/Akkusativ.

“Don’t go without me.”

Don’t go without me.

ohne mich. ohne takes the Akkusativ without exception; ich becomes mich in the Akkusativ. mir is Dativ and goes with mit — the two words are opposites in meaning but take different cases, and that is exactly where the mistake happens.

How do you say “tea without sugar”?

Tee ohne Zucker is correct. “Without sugar” is a general lack (Nullartikel), so the article is left out. ohne den Zucker is only used if you mean one particular sugar (say, the sugar on the table); ohne der Zucker is never possible, because ohne takes the Akkusativ.

Complete the sentence correctly: Er ist nach Hause gegangen, Tschüss zu sagen.

ohne is correct. The sentence means “He went home without saying goodbye.” The subject of the main clause is Er, and the subject of “zu sagen” is also Er. So you build ohne ... zu: ohne Tschüss zu sagen. ohne dass is for a different subject.

“He eats soup without a spoon.”

ohne Löffel. In the “none at all” sense, the article drops after ohne. ohne den Löffel would mean “without that particular spoon”; ohne dem is Dativ, and ohne doesn’t take the Dativ.

Which ohne ... zu structure fits “We ate without waiting for you”? Wir aßen, .

ohne auf dich zu warten is correct. The verb warten takes auf + Akkusativ (to wait for someone = auf jemanden warten). So the preposition auf has to stay inside the infinitive group: ohne auf dich zu warten. ohne dich zu warten drops the preposition and is wrong. Option 2 is a dass clause, not a “zu” structure.

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Worksheet

ohne pocket card

This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.

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Dativ verbs

helfen · gefallen · gehören · geben

Dativ verbs are German verbs whose object goes in the dative case: helfen, gefallen, gehören, geben.

Continue to the A2 path

Prepositions