Hello everyone,
and welcome to a new episode of the series German Prepositions Explained – the series where German Prepositions get the spanking that they deserve. I mean, figuratively – the spanking is the explanation. And they like it, because German prepositions are a bit kinky. Or was it tricky?
Anyways, today, we will take a look at when to use
von
As usual in this series, we’ll look at the word from all perspectives.
So we’ll talk about von as a preposition, but we’ll also compile the most common verbs that “want” von as a preposition. Like träumen von, erzählen von and so on. And we’ll see if there’s some underlying theme. And of course we’ll talk about the verbs that have von as a prefix.
And in fact, let’s start with those right away:
there aren’t any.
Hooray!!
There’s no vonmachen or vongehen or vonsehen.
All the other prepositions were always like
“Come one, bro. You should prefix some time. It’s super lit.”
but von was always
“Nah, I don’t wanna. I’d rather go surfing.”
And do you know which car von is using to get to the beach?
A van.
*Badum tish
Yeah, jokes are as flat as the sea today.
Anyway, here are the links to the sections if you want to jump around:
And now let’s jump right in …
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Bustedd…
I was wondering to myself “did this guy read
by Seth Lindstromberg]
And the answer is (probably) no. Because you have written in this article “It needs to be on. But there’s no deeper reason why it is not at or from. It just happened to be on, …“
And if you haven’t read any of these books, I am extremely shocked, because you explain the semantics of the words / phrases in the same way that these books do.
And yes, there is a sound reason for it to be on not at or from. First I will speak for English, then Turkish and Azerbaijani (which are my native languages).
In English, on has the sense of contact. For example, “The balloon is on the end of the rope.”
So the thing that depends should have something to have contact with. (depend comes from: [1] de- = “down from [2] pendere = “to hang”)
Now think of an object that hangs off the edge of the table by a rope. If I cut off the rope, what happens? The object falls down. So the object depends on the table. No table, no object.
To my surprise, abhängen has the same roots: [1] ab- → off / away / down from [2] pendere = “to hang”
Actually both come from the exactly the same root.
In Azerbaijani language, depends on = “asılı olmaq“ literally “hang from” (exactly abhängen)
In Turkish, it is “bağlı olmak” literally “tied to”. (it is more like the opposite of hang, but has the same meaning. The object depends on the table not by being hung, but by being tied to it.)
So in all 4 different languages you have the sense of hang. (only Turkish use the rope metaphor for tying, not hanging. But the concept is the same.)
Now you have 4 sentences with the same concept:
Phew… Oh man… Language is magic…
Wow, yeah… it’s super duper fascinating how languages that have very little to do with each other use the same figurative idea to express a basic pattern of reality, like “dependence”.
Thanks for sharing these insights!
Oh and:
“And the answer is (probably) no.”
Correct, I have not read any of them :). I generally do not read any linguistic content. I prefer analyzing by myself. It’s my mother-tongue, so all the information is technically “in my brain”. It’s just a matter of mentally analyzing, classifying and discerning, which is something I enjoy doing. Reading about it and then just kind of paraphrasing it here would take out half the fun for me.
Oh by the way… about “hanging on”… in German, we actually also say “hängen an”.
– Ich hänge an dir. (I’m attached to you. figuratively)
– Der Scheinwerfer hängt an der Decke. (The spot light is hanging on the ceiling.)
I think it’s the “ab” in abhängen that triggers the word of separation. “ab” indicates separation, so you need to connect something you separate “from”.
Thanks for further explanation!
ich verstehe nicht die Hälfte von dem, was die Lehrer sagen
Please explain the von dem and was… While not just was alone?
Please answer my question
Sorry, this must have slipped through. I answered the other comment now.
ich verstehe nicht die Hälfte von dem, was die Lehrer sagen
Please explain the von dem and was… While not just was alone?
Es ist analog zu
– … half of that, which the teachers say.
Das klingt old school in Englisch, aber normal auf Deutsch.
– … die Hälfte von was die Lehrer sagen
Das geht, ist aber sehr umgangssprachlich und schwer ordentlich punktiert zu schreiben.
Hi Emanuel and thanks for the article! Unfortunately the internet is filled with contradictions regarding von and aus (probably due to the so called “experts” who are in fact not native speakers).
How would you translate the following:
The noises are coming from the street.
The smoke comes from the kitchen.
I have received a letter from a company.
She comes from a small mountain village.
I just arrived from Berlin. I am going to Frankfurt now. (the idea is that this is just a travel plan, NOT that I as a man originate from Berlin as in being born there or something).
Sorry if some may be obvious, but the more time I spend on the internet trying to figure the difference out the more confused I become. I could really use the help of a native speaker here, since translators are unreliable and so are the questionable “internet experts”.
– Die Geräusche kommen VON der Straße. (“aus” would be super weird here)
– Der Rauch kommt AUS der Küche. (“von” would be fairly odd)
– Ich habe einen Brief von der Firma bekommen. (The company sends you a letter)
– Ich habe einen Brief aus der Firma bekommen. (technically, this could mean someone from inside the company sent you a letter, but in reality, you won’t really need this)
– Sie kommt aus einem kleinen Bergdorf. (Where she grew up or lived)
– Sie kommt von einem kleinen Bergdorf. (This was the origin of a day hike)
– Ich bin gerade aus Berlin angekommen. (No logic here, “aus” is just way more idiomatic with “ankommen”)
Hope that helps.
The problem with many blogs and sites is that the articles mainly exist because people want to drive traffic to their site to sell their e-book or course. Their main goal is not explaining the issue, but making you buy. So they often just paraphrase what they find elsewhere and they never really analyze anything themselves.
Thanks so much, this clarifies a lot! In the example with the smoke from the kitchen I can see the logic (according to the article). The Kitchen is a room you can actually get in and get out (therefore AUS is better), but what about the street?
The street is not something you literally get inside/outside, so maybe VON makes more sense. However I do still find quite a lot of such “gray areas” when it comes to the two. Do you think it’s often a sort of gut-feeling rather than logic behind those (expect the more clear cases)? Like it depends on how germans make mental images about things that are hard to understand for outsiders, especially as beginners.
At least at my mid-B1 level I honestly have no idea why “Milk from the farm” would use prefer VON or AUS and this is far from being the only case.
There’s definitely a fair bit of “This is right because we’re used to it.” going on. Germans don’t always have an inner logic there and generally, “idiomatic” trumps “logic” any time :)
“von der Straße”… you could explain it by thinking of the Straße as a fixed block and the noise comes from that direction. It’s not about the noise “exiting” the street.
– Milch vom Bauernhof.
This is better, again because the “farm” is a concept here, rather than an entity that you “enter”.
Thanks for breaking it down. I understand it better now. I hope I can get answers for (vor, bei, mit, aber, doch, an, auf, zu and nach) also.
Thanks once more.
I do have articles for almost all of those :).
Just use my search/dictionary, or let me know if you can’t find one.
Hello,
As I am learning German, I encountered sentece like this:
Er trinkt Bier meistens direkt aus der Flasche.
As I am learning the difference between aus/von, as you said aus is used to the things that you can exit like as countries, cities, buldings, etc.
Shouldn’t here be von?
I don’t see any logical reason to give aus here, and I saw this sentence, on pretty big german channel.
There are lot of from in german, as I see you made some posts about them, but I would be very happy If you could say if i am correct here or no.
1) Aus- one of 2 “from” with idea of orgin, ich komme aus Polen, about exiting.
2) Von- idea of orgin, but on things that you can’t really exit, ich komme von Sascha.
Ich fliege von Frankfurt nach Paris < couldn’t it be also just aus? >
Then we have ab and seit, also “from”, but in meaning of times, right?
Maria kommt vom Backer
but, we also can just say
Maria kommt aus dem Bäckerei, right?
I totally get where you’re coming from with “Bier von der Flasche”, but the beer is IN the bottle, so it also makes sense to use “aus” when it leaves the bottle. Same for cups of course. “von” with drinks is more for the drink itself.
As for the other question, again, you’re making a good point.
These two are the typical phrasings for contexts where we have a start and an end point.
“aus Frankfurt” wouldn’t be wrong, but it would sound unusual because people are just used to the von… nach phrasing.
Oh and yes, “vom Bäcker” and “aus der Bäckerei” are the idiomatic choices.
Okey, so its like von, because it is in a bottle, so the liquid have to kinda, exit a bottle?
If I would want to for example eat something, that is in a jar, should it then be aswell aus?
Because its kinda similiar to the bottle, it have to exit the jar first.
Thanks, its a lot of less confusing now with all of this von/aus, it feels a lot more confusing than in english.
It’s “aus” because the liquid comes out of the bottle.
If something is “in” a jar, then you eat it “aus dem Glas”.
But if something if “on” the plate, then you eat it “vom Teller”.
Okey, that explains alot, I should be pretty fine with aus/von now!
If not, you know where to find me :)
Hey, great article (as usual). I ended up here because I came across a memorial close to where I work in Berlin that has a usage of ‘von’ that threw me:
“Hier wurde in den letzten Tagen des April 1945 ein 17-Jähriger von Nationalsozialisten erhängt”
Confused, I did some digging and think that the reason is that ‘von’ is used to express an agent in the passive tense (“Der Kaffee wurde von Rita zubereitet”). At least I think that’s what’s going on?
Just thought i’d mention it, as it’s a usage of the preposition not touched upon in the article and others might end up here, like me, on account of the passive.
Yeah, you’re completely right.
Actually, it’s weird that I forgot to mention this, because it’s a fairly common use.
It does tie in with the core sense of origin though.
Where/by whom did an action originate, so to speak.
Hey Emmanuel –
Is this use of aus related to the notion of exiting(leaving/vacating a city) –
Vor einer Stunde wurden auch alle ihre schweren Sachen aus Berlin geliefert.
Danke
This is pretty much the classic origin-aus for me. Like… where is something or someone from.
Technically, the sentence could mean that her heavy things were in Berlin OR that they were actually MADE in Berlin but the context strongly suggests the first option.
Does that help?
Feedback: I think the quizzes are great. They really help to see if you understood and also to remember in the future. They’re a great plus to the article.
Definition 3:
from, starting
(Temporal sense. For giving a range like “Monday through Friday”)
Monday through Friday is American; in English we would say Monday to Friday because ‘through’ suggests ‘carrying on’ ie past friday, whereas the phrase is supposed to be inclusive ie to friday but no further.
So my question is do you mean monday to friday inclusive [from-to] or starting monday and to at least friday but beyond also?
Sorry to be pendantic! :)
Nice question!!
Generally, my English is influenced by American English, so I try to stay consistent there, when it comes to spelling or choice of words.
Whenever you’re in doubt… I’m definitely meaning the AE version of something.
About the question:
I don’t know what example you’re referring to (if there is one specific one in the post), but “Monday through Friday” in my head is
And the “bis” part is a definite end, so no continuation :).
Vielen Dank!
Hi! Something that always trips me up — whether to use “aus” or “von” for where I know something or someone from. For example, “This is Marie. She is my friend from uni.” (where I don’t go anymore.” Or “This is my coworker, we are from the same company” (where I still/currently work). “This is Carla, she is from Japan (but isn’t Japanese, only lives there, and is visiting me now from there).” Or, “This coat is from my closet.” Can you help me distinguish which preposition is best? Thanks :)
No idea why I never answered this. I must have overlooked it!
So… the right word in German depends on what the “location” is.
“aus” – containers, buildings and other entities you can enter and leave, also: countries
“von” – origins that you can’t enter (or don’t enter). Like a person, or the generic word “da”.
All your examples are with “aus” except “from there” which would be “von da”.
Hope that helps.
Hello ! What about the sentence – Ich lerne aus dem Buch (I learn from the book). Why aus and not from. what is the context here?
Well, the content is “in” the book, and in German you basically take it “out” of the book.
You can also use “von”, but then it’s the book as a whole.
One general piece of advice is to not think in terms of “Why is it not like it is in English.”
You asked why it’s not “from the book”. Well a German speaker is going to ask “Why is it from the book and not out”.
Like… why should it be “from” to begin with? Because English uses “from”?
Prepositions rarely line up and one choice is as good as another one. It’s just a question of what people are used to.
Why is it “Thomas versucht verzweifelt, sie vom Gegenteil überzeugen” and not “Thomas versucht verzweifelt, sie vom Gegenteil zu überzeugen”? Or are both okay?
Ich habe eine Frage über die Idea “people as point of origin”. Ich habe oft gelesen, die Frage “woher weißt du das?” benutzen werden. Kann man auch “wovon weißt du das?” oder besser “von wem weißt du das?” sagen?
“von wem” ist voll okay, aber dann meinst du wirklich NUR Menschen, keine Bücher.
“wovon” klingt falsch.
Klar, danke
hi I was watching dark days ago I noticed something about “von” in this sentence
**Aber die Unterscheidung von Vergangenheit Gegenwart und Zukunft**
here von means “between” I’m really confused I searched it up but it doesn’t mean between but in this sentence the meaning is different I thought you can help me :) and thanks for your amazing website.
Hi Ava, prepositions rarely translate well. At least not in combination with verbs. They’re tokens of functionality and every language uses different ones for the same stuff.
I makes no sense to go to a dictionary for that stuff. If you read “Unterscheidung von”, then that’s just a way German happens to phrase this. Does “von” mean “between”? Hard to say. It MAPS to “between” in this context. That’s all.
Besides, English isn’t so much different. There’s “difference between” but you can also find “difference of” and “difference in”.
Don’t over-analyze these things when you see them. It doesn’t really lead anywhere but to confusion :)
thank you so much you’re amazing
Even English merges nouns sometimes. So, it should be “hairdresser” as one word.
Uff, thanks. I think this is one of the last things I’ll learn about English… which ones are one word, which ones get a hyphen and which ones are two words. I really don’t see a system there :)
Don’t worry, neither do a lot of native speakers!!
thank you for another great article
It’s the first time I tried listening to the audio clips, now I regret not having done so with other articles I’ve read. They’re very funny, and the jokes you write get me everytime despite how stupid they are haha
Wait, this was the first time you listened to the audios?
It’s because of Firefox, I guess.
I feel like I really should send then a donation, for reaching out and helping to fix it.
Just to lower expectations though… my audios aren’t always that silly. Just every now and then I have a silly moment.
How do you listen to the audio clips? Is it only through a certain browser?
There’s a play button under each example. Do you not see that on your display? What device are you using? It should work on any browser by now…
1) Einhorn convo
Einhorn 1 : Wir lernen nichts von dir
Ein horn 2 : aber Ich erzählen Ihnnen davon, wie ich den Geist getötet habe
Einhorn 1 : ich träumen ein tag davon, wo Dummheit tot ist
2) I am really thinking about “von” vs “über” in context of about, . I red the balloon analogy but the doesn’t tell me what I should do if i don’t the pattern
Is it just a combo I must know?
3) denken von vs denken an,
1) Pretty good, but the third sentence has a mistake:
“Ich träume ein Tag davon….”
I think you’re trying to say “I*m dreaming of a day, when …”
You have a noun here, “a day”. So there is no reason to use a da-word.
2) Stop thinking about that. It’s not that important.
3) “denken von” is about your opinion, “denken an” is about the direction of your thoughts.
When you say VON is used for origins that dont involve or focus exiting, whats your thought about the exiting idea? Because i cant grasp the concept of exiting.
Well, the easiest way is to think of a door. But of course there are loads of situations where there isn’t an actual door.
What are you unsure about?
I mean i get the idea by understanding Aus and thinking of VON as a contrary of Aus. Thats how i get it right I suppose.
Wait, do you mean contrary or counterpart? The contrary of “aus” in this locational context is “in”, in my mind.
Hallo. Einige Rückmeldungen für dich. Ich habe versucht, das Quiz zu beenden, aber ich konnte die Fragen jedoch nicht klar auf meinem Handybildschirm sehen. Dieses Problem hatte ich mit anderen täglichen deutschen E-Mails nicht. Grüße aus London! Wayne
Hi Dirron,
oh nein, ich hab grad geguckt und es sah echt Scheiße aus!! Ich hab’s jetzt geändert, und es sollte funktionieren.
Danke dir für’s Bescheid sagen :).
Es funktioniert jetzt perfekt. Vielen Dank Emanuel