aus or von?
a1The most common question of week one: aus names origin, where someone comes from or what comes out of an enclosed space. von names the starting point of a journey or the person something comes from. Both take the dative.
aus
Origin and interiors: countries, cities, buildings, containers. Always for the question of where you are from: Ich komme aus …
Ich komme aus Japan.I come from Japan.
von
The starting point of a movement, often paired as von … bis or von … nach. Also the person something comes from.
Der Zug fährt von Berlin nach Hamburg.The train goes from Berlin to Hamburg.
The mistake
Ich komme von Polen.
Ich komme aus Polen.
For origin it is always aus. The wrong sentence says someone has just travelled in from Poland - a statement about a journey, not about where they are from.
Rule of thumb
Ask whether a container or a country is behind it: aus is out of something, von is away from somewhere.
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