German Preposition 'Aus'

The preposition aus is very useful in German and is used very frequently, both by itself and in combination with other words. It is always followed by the dative.
The original meaning of the preposition aus was not only ‘outside’ and to’exit’, same what it means today, but ‘going up’ as well. Here are today’s main meanings of aus defined, followed by common nouns and expressions with aus.

Aus in the Sense of ‘From Somewhere’:

In some instances aus will be used for expressing ‘from somewhere’, such as when stating what country/ place somebody is from. In those German sentences the verb kommen (come) or stammen (originate) needs to be used, whereas in English that is not so.

Ich komme aus Spanien. (I’m from Spain.)
Ich stamme aus Deutschland. (I’m from Germany.)

In other uses of aus as in ‘from somewhere’, the same verb in both languages will be used.

Ich trinke aus einem Glas. (I am drinking from a glass.)
Ich hole meine Jacke aus dem Klassenzimmer. (I’m getting my jacket from the classroom.)
Er kommt aus der Ferne (He comes from a distance.)

Aus in the Sense of ‘Made Out Of”:

Aus welchem Material ist deine Bluse? (Out of what material is your blouse made from?)
Was wird aus Altpapier gemacht? (What is made out of recycled paper?)

Aus in the Sense of ‘Out of/ Coming Out Of’:

Sie geht aus dem Haus jetzt. (She is coming out of the house now.)
Das kleine Kind ist beinahe aus dem Fenster gefallen. (The small child almost fell out of the window.)

Aus in the Sense of ‘Out of/ Because Of/ Due to’

Er hat es aus persönlichen Gründen abgesagt. (He did cancel due to personal reasons.)
Deine Mutter tat es aus Liebe. (Your mother did it out of love.)

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