I have a question regarding the prepositions "auf" and "an":
If I want to say "the glasses are on your face", would it be Die Brille ist *auf deinem Gesicht
or *an* deinem Gesicht
?
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Sign up to join this communityI have a question regarding the prepositions "auf" and "an":
If I want to say "the glasses are on your face", would it be Die Brille ist *auf deinem Gesicht
or *an* deinem Gesicht
?
This is a brilliant question, because logic does not help here. For example, it is
das Bild an der Wand
but
die Brille auf dem (or better im) Gesicht
(Auf is rather used when saying that the glasses are on the nose.)
In both cases an object (Bild, Brille) is attached to a surface (Wand, Gesicht), and it is a matter of perspective, whether you consider the object to be located "exactly on", "close to" or "near" the surface. Still, in both cases different prepositions are used. The only rule that I see is: usage.
You would say auf deinem Gesicht. An deinem Gesicht would mean that it is located (probably leaning or hanging) near the face. I can only think of rare circumstances where that would be the case.
A more natural expression would read
Die Brille ist auf deiner Nase.
That neither auf nor am are really good with Brille and Gesicht has already been discussed.
I have one thing to add to @Björn's answer, which is totally correct for standard German German: pronoun usage varies regionally even in standard language. For example, in Austrian, it would be totally correct to say and write
Das Bild hängt auf der Wand.
with an der Wand sounding rather unidiomatic (not wrong, but probably marking you as German), while
Die Brille liegt am Tisch.
and
Die Brille liegt auf dem Tisch.
are both good with some tendency the first, although, as far as I understand, standard German German ascribes very different meanings to auf der Wand and am Tisch.