Shortened Forms of Prepositions

Hallo

Bis zum Morgen grauen - Until Dawn

This should be the accusative following the preposition "bis".

der Morgan goes to den Morgen then why has zum been used which is the shortened form of zu dem. Should the phrase not correctly be:
Bis zu den Morgen grauen

Thank you
Douglas

Hi Douglas,

You are correct about 'bis' being accusitive but 'zu' is a dative preposition and that is why the article following it is 'dem'.  The phrase literally doesn't sound right in English does it. I mean "until to the grey of morning", but I'm pretty sure 'zu' is the operative preposition here regarding the proper article.

Hi Douglas and Byron,

The masculine articles “der” and “ein” changes in the accusative into“den” and “ein” into 'einen'. 'Zum' is the short form of 'zu dem'. The correct sentence would be 'Bis zu dem Morgen grauen'. You recognise the dativ case from the word 'dem'.  For cases check the chapter 6.7 A Case in Point -Dative

Regards

Paul