You may be familiar with auf as a preposition meaning "on" or "for." However, like the prepositions nach, in, and an, there are times when its meaning is "to" (accusative) and "at" (dative) and you will see it translated as such.

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Viele machen sich's gemütlich zu Hause oder sie gehen auf eine Party.

Many people will make themselves comfortable at home or they will go to a party.

Caption 93, Silvester - Vorsätze für das neue Jahr - Linkenheim

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Yes, in German we say auf eine Party gehen ("to go to a party") and also auf eine Hochzeit gehen ("to go to a wedding"). 

There are certain public places for which auf is used as well. In the sentence below, der Markt refers to the consumer market, but you would also say Ich gehe auf den Markt to tell your friend that you are going to an outdoor farmer's market, and Ich bin auf dem Markt (with dative) once you have arrived there. 

Und einige der neuen Fahrzeuge, die jetzt auf den Markt kommen,

And you will see some of the new vehicles that are now coming on to the market

werden Sie erstmals bei dieser IAA sehen.

for the first time at this IAA.

Captions 44-45, Internationale Automobilausstellung - IAA in Frankfurt öffnet die Pforten

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As you might imagine, auf is also used when we will end up on or on top of something. If you remember our previous newsletter on the preposition in, the second example below might be quite confusing. But indeed, we say in die Berge when driving into/towards the mountains and auf den Berg when referring to climbing a single mountain.

Die Aktivisten kletterten über Kräne auf das Dach des Gebäudes.

The activists climbed via cranes onto the roof of the building.

Caption 8, Atomkraft - Streit um AKW-Laufzeiten

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Am besten steigen wir auf den Berg.

It's best if we climb the mountain.

Caption 9, JoNaLu - Ein Tag am Meer

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And finally, auf is also used with islands. 

Die Urlauber, die jetzt auf die Insel kommen, lassen sich den Wind um die Nase pusten.

The vacationers who come now to the island let the wind blow over their faces.

Caption 2, Die Insel Fehmarn - Gästeboom

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Further Learning
Other places and nouns that are commonly paired with the preposition auf when they are the destination include der Spielplatz, der Fußballplatz, der Fluss, die Messe, and der Turm. Don't forget that auf is also a two-way preposition, so you will also see it used with the dative on Yabla German to describe location.

As you certainly know by now, a German adjective in the nominative or subject case for a masculine noun with an indefinite article usually takes an -er as an ending. 

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For example, with the adjective halb:

...ein halber Teelöffel über drei Stücke Wurst.

... a half a teaspoon on three pieces of sausage.

Caption 39, Currywurst - Berlins schärfstes Stück

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So ein halber Marathon sind 20 Kilometer.

Such a half marathon is 20 kilometers.

Caption 10, Internationale Automobilausstellung - IAA in Frankfurt öffnet die Pforten

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Ein halber Mond versinkt vor mir.

A half moon sinks before me.

Caption 17, Tokio Hotel - Durch den Monsun

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From knowing that the adjective halb, seen here as halber, means "half," you might make a mistake when you see a word of the same spelling in some other contexts: 

Der Ordnung halber... 

When you find a noun in the genitive case followed by halber, this is the preposition halber and means "for the sake of..." The above could be translated as "for the sake of orderliness" or "for the sake of clarity." Here are few other examples: 

Der Einfachheit halber = for the sake of simplicity
Der Transparenz halber = for the sake of transparency
Der Vollständigkeit halber = for the sake of completeness
Der Datenqualität halber = for the sake of data quality
Der Ehrlichkeit halber  = for the sake of honesty

In some cases, the use of the adjective halber became so common that it fused with a noun to become an adjectival suffix, or the ending of an adjective. The meaning that the suffix -halber lends a word is usually the same as the adjective: 

gerechtigkeitshalber = der Gerechtigkeit halber = for the sake of justice
sicherheitshalber = der Sicherheit halber = for the sake of security

But sometimes it can have a slightly different meaning as the cause of something rather than for the sake of something: 

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krankheitshalber = because of illness
umständehalber = due to circumstances

Further Learning
Go to the German Duden dictionary and read the definitions of the adjective halber and the adjectival suffix halber. See if you can translate the title of this lesson to proper German, too! (Hint: it will use the genitive case of das Deutschlernen.)

English has quite a few idioms using the word "foot," and the German language also "puts its best foot forward" in this regard!

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Some German foot expressions are very similar to English:

Ich nehm' mein Herz und leg's dir zu Füßen.

I'll take my heart and lay it at your feet.

Caption 3, Deutsche Musik - Chris und Croissant

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Sometimes, a German expression is close to English, but with a spin of its own:

Er war von Kopf bis Fuß grün angezogen.

He was dressed in green from head to foot [idiom: completely].

Caption 23, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Ein Topf voll Gold

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The above expression is very similar, of course, to the English "from head to toe." Most German idiomatic expressions with the word Fuß are quite different, however:

Und die Besucher müssen wirklich gut zu Fuß sein.

And the visitors must be really good to foot [idiom: agile].

Captions 18-19, Internationale Automobilausstellung - IAA in Frankfurt öffnet die Pforten

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The English foot idiom that comes closest is "light on their feet." At Yabla, we translate idioms literally (word for word), and then add a dictionary-style definition for clarity.

Be careful you don't "put your foot in it" though, as some expressions sound similar to English, but have a completely different meaning:

Was Henne gesagt hat, hat ja eigentlich auch Hand und Fuß.

But I think what Henne has said also actually has a hand and a foot [idiom: makes sense].

Caption 48, Luxuslärm - Interview

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If you recall the English saying "to wait on someone hand and foot," you might falsely interpret the German to mean that Henne was being servile, when in fact she was making sense!

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Further Learning
Learn some more expressions about other parts of the body here, and go to Yabla German and see how the word Fuß is used in different contexts.