German preposition · CEFR A1

um

Meaning in English: at (time); around; in order to

Rank 36 of 5,000prepositionLevel A12 forms in the list
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Example

Der Film fängt um halb neun an.

The film starts at half past eight.

Forms of um in the top 5,000

These forms of um are in the top 5,000 as well — German adds endings for gender, case and number:

ums#1,876
around the, about the (um das)A2

Es geht ums Prinzip.
It's a matter of principle.

How common is um?

um is number 36 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 3,428 times per million words — about once every 290 words.

Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 34% of the words in an ordinary German text. A1 means a beginner word, usually met in the first weeks of learning.

Next to it in the frequency list

  1. 32wiehow; like, as
  2. 33wirdbecomes; will; is (passive)
  3. 34dassthat (conjunction)
  4. 35wirwe
  5. 36umat (time); around; in order to
  6. 37hathas
  7. 38einera (dat./gen. fem.); one
  8. 39einena (accusative, masculine)
  9. 40zumto the (zu + dem)

In these word lists

Translations, levels and examples were written with AI help and are awaiting review by a native speaker — how the list was made.