Prepositions as Contractions

Prepositions which rule the dative quite often form contractions with the dative article, mainly with 'dem', the dative article of masculine and neuter nouns, much less frequently with 'der' the dative article of feminine nouns. There are no contractions with 'den', the dative plural form.

The following contractions are very popular and used both in spoken and written German.

beim = bei dem

• Beim Frühstück liest er immer die Zeitung

vom = von dem

• Ich komme vom Bahnhof.

zum = zu dem
zur = zu der (N.B. 'zur' is the only contraction with a feminine article)

• Ich gehe zum Bahnhof.
• Sie geht zur Post.

am = an dem
ans = an das

• Der Schreibtisch steht am Fenster.
• Wir fahren ans Meer.

im = in dem
ins = an das

• Er ist im Bad.
• Ich gehe ins Bad.

In spoken German, the article is often swallowed, except for the last consonant. Therefore, you may also hear, but hardly ever see in written German:

• hinterm = hinter dem
• überm = über dem
• aus'm = aus dem