preposition
instead of, in place of
B1
statt is a preposition meaning 'instead of' or 'in place of'. Formally it governs the genitive (e.g., statt des Geldes), but in spoken and informal German statt + dative is common. Do not confuse with statt dass. No auxiliary or reflexive properties.
Examples
Er fuhr nach Hause, statt länger zu bleiben, obwohl die Kollegen um Hilfe baten.
He drove home instead of staying longer, although the colleagues asked for help.
Wir gehen spazieren statt im Restaurant zu essen.
We'll go for a walk in place of going to the restaurant.
Ich trinke Wasser statt Cola.
I drink water instead of cola.
Details
Mnemonics
imagine two items side by side and a big arrow labelled 'statt' swapping them
sounds like 'stat' (short for 'state') — think 'rather than the state, use X'
Notes
Statt traditionally governs the genitive in formal German (statt des Autos), but colloquially people often use the dative (statt dem Auto).