Many essential German verbs are tied to specific prepositions that must often be memorized as fixed pairings. Sich freuen takes "auf" (+ accusative) for looking forward to a future event ("Ich freue mich auf den Urlaub") but "über" (+ accusative) for being happy about something already received ("Ich freue mich über das Geschenk"). Warten is paired with "auf" (Ich warte auf den Bus), as is sich verlassen (to rely on: "Du kannst dich auf mich verlassen"). Verbs taking "von" + dative include abhängen (to depend on) and bestehen auf (to insist on) — note that "bestehen aus" + dative means "to consist of," a different preposition. Sich kümmern takes "um" + accusative (to take care of); zweifeln takes "an" + dative (to doubt); sich gewöhnen takes "an" + accusative (to get used to); sich sehnen takes "nach" + dative (to long for).
Nominalization turns infinitives into neuter nouns (always capitalized, always preceded by "das") and is a powerful tool for producing concise, formal prose: lesen → das Lesen, schreiben → das Schreiben, schwimmen → das Schwimmen. These nominalized infinitives combine smoothly with prepositions and articles: "beim Essen" (while eating), "zum Glück" (fortunately), "zum Beispiel" (for example), "zum Schluss" (in conclusion). Sentences can be condensed accordingly: "Wenn man regelmäßig liest, verbessert man sein Deutsch" becomes "Durch regelmäßiges Lesen verbessert man sein Deutsch."
The pronoun "es" often serves as a formal or placeholder subject in German. It appears in impersonal weather expressions ("Es regnet," "Es schneit"), in existential statements ("Es gibt viele Möglichkeiten"), and as an anticipatory subject before the real subject follows ("Es ist wichtig, pünktlich zu sein"). Two fixed phrases build on this: "es handelt sich um" (+ accusative) means "it is about / it concerns" ("Es handelt sich um ein Missverständnis"), while "es kommt darauf an" means "it depends" ("Es kommt darauf an, ob ich Zeit habe").