Is Auf Dative or Accusative?

auf is a two-way-preposition. The Dative expresses that something is on top of something and Accusative tells us that on top of something is the destination of the action. Die Katze sitzt auf dem Tisch.

Is auf an accusative preposition?

Prepositions introduce prepositional phrases, which always include a noun(s). Two-way prepositions require nouns either in the accusative case or in the dative case. There are 10 two-way prepositions: an, auf, hinter, in, neben, entlang, über, unter, vor, zwischen.

Does auf trigger dative?

There is no movement in the sentence, so auf triggers the dative case. Therefore, der Tisch changes to dem Tisch. Whereas in the bottom sentence, the book is being moved onto the table. Der Tisch needs to change to den Tisch because the movement along with auf requires the accusative case.