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"Duden - Die Grammatik" 8th edition chapter 3.5 - Verschmelzung von Präposition und Artikel will tell you everything - and a little more - you might wanna know about your special problem and all further efforts in learning German. A less 'hardcore' version is Duden - Richtiges und gutes Deutsch. – mramosch Sep 1 '15 at 13:33


A: »In welchem Haus wohnt er?«
B zeigt auf das linke Gebäude und sagt: »In dem Haus.«

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Is "in dem Haus, in dem ich damals lebte" really informal? At the same time, I cannot replace the first occurrence of "dem" with "diesem" in that construction (the second one is something else, anyway, of course). – O. R. Mapper Aug 26 '15 at 18:11
@O. R. Mapper, you can't replace it by "diesem" but still the house you are talking about is specified by the Relativsatz. I think, the specification is the important thing. – Iris Sep 1 '15 at 15:09

In written German, use only the contractions listed by Phira.

Use contractions:

  • in patterned speech

    Etwas zum Besten geben, zur Schule gehen

  • in superlatives

    Hans ist am größten.


    Ich bin zum Bäcker gegangen.


    An dem Tag habe ich schon etwas vor.


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The superlatives aren’t contractions as they also don’t change genders. – Jan Sep 1 '15 at 8:24

Und noch mehr:

zu + der = zur (Ich gehe zur Schule)



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In many languages, prepositions and articles are sometimes contracted.

Obligatory contractions:

  • an + dem + noun → am + noun
  • in + dem + noun → im + noun
  • zu + dem + noun → zum + noun
  • zu + der + noun → zur + noun

Contractions that may occur in informal speech:

  • vor + dem + noun → vorm + noun

As for choosing between different cases:




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There are so many contractions that exist but aren’t listed in this post while at the same time the post reads itself as if it presented an exhaustive list. – Jan Sep 1 '15 at 8:26
My German teacher put it like this: Keep it short, that is, use the so called obligatory contractions, but she also mentioned that it is not a mistake to use an + dem instead of am, for example. I find the emphasizing mentioned below by AGuyCalledGerald a good argument for not being a mistake and also for the situation when you wouldn't want to contract. – mosu Dec 1 '15 at 18:37

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