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I have seen both auf dem Weg and am Weg to be used in some circumstances. What is the exact difference in meaning and which one would I choose for following sentence :

On the way to work I have stopped by in the supermarket.

Thomas Wanner
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  • Short answer: You go shopping auf dem Weg (on the way), but you pick flowers am Weg (at the roadside). But in Austria, and only there, am can also mean auf dem. –  Nov 28 '15 at 23:56

4 Answers4

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Literally auf dem Weg means "on the road" (on top of), am Weg is a contraction of an dem Weg and means "at the road" (near). For your example, it should be auf dem Weg:

Auf dem Weg zur Arbeit habe ich kurz am Supermarkt angehalten.

If you're talking about somebody moving, it should always be auf dem Weg ("on your way"). If you're talking about something stationary, you should use am Weg ("near the road", unless it's physically on the road). Colloquially auf dem Weg is often used interchangeably with am Weg though.

Auf dem Weg zur Arbeit... (that's me moving)
Der Supermarkt liegt am Weg. (that's the supermarket standing there)
Der Supermarkt liegt auf dem Weg. (auf meinem Weg irgendwohin)

Where you cannot simply exchange them is if you want to say something is near the (physical) road:

Da steht ein Schild am Weg. (There's a sign near the road.)

deceze
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  • Ha, I coincidentally used the sign example too! :) – splattne Jun 27 '11 at 09:31
  • Zwei Doofe, ein Gedanke. :o) – deceze Jun 27 '11 at 09:48
  • this hurts. "am" is a contraction for both "auf dem" and "an dem" and you explain the difference between those two and not between "am" and "auf dem." You can verify this by substituting "der Weg" with "die Straße" (neither "auf der" nor "an der" have a similar contraction). The contraction might be more or less in use for both "auf" and "an," depending on dialect (cf. splattne's answer). –  Jun 28 '11 at 21:29
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    @hop No dictionary seems to share your view of am as contraction of auf dem, and I would never use it that way. It seems to be very much a dialect use. You are correct that an der is not contracted to ar, but I'm not sure how that proves that am is a contraction of auf dem. – deceze Jun 28 '11 at 22:45
  • @hop PS: The only contraction of auf dem I would use is auf'm. – deceze Jun 28 '11 at 23:31
  • @deceze: be that as it may, you are still muddling the issue by comparing a non-contraction with a contraction and you should state that more clearly. btw, http://dwb.uni-trier.de/Projekte/WBB2009/DWB/displayLinkInfo?lemid=GA03141 is a good reference for am as a contraction for "an dem." –  Jun 28 '11 at 23:55
  • @hop Fair enough, added a note that am is a contraction. I don't think the rest of the answer should have made anybody hurt because of that somewhat tangential omission. BTW, that link doesn't seem to work. – deceze Jun 29 '11 at 01:17
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    @hop: Clearly, am is a contraction of an dem. But I don't know how you got the idea that it's also a contraction of auf dem. I have no problems whatsoever with a comparison of am and auf dem. The point is that an dem Weg sounds very formal; one normally always says am Weg. (@deceze: Of course your recent edit is still very helpful.) – Hendrik Vogt Jun 29 '11 at 08:08
  • if it were the clear, the original question would probably never have come up. 2) just because it is not in use in your neck of the german woods doesn't mean it's not in use anywhere. "der schlüssel liegt am kastel" as well as "ich bin am weg zu dir" is quite common in austria, colloquial or not.
    • –  Jun 29 '11 at 15:14
  • @hop: Just found your comment. I didn't know about the Austrian usage (and that's not the first time this happens to me here). I found nd01's answer very helpful in this respect. – Hendrik Vogt Jul 14 '11 at 16:20