Expand your spatial vocabulary with two very common prepositions: uit and bij.
Coming from or out of: uit
The preposition uit generally translates to "out of" or "from". Use it to describe physical movement out of an enclosed space, container, or building:
You also use uit to talk about origins, such as coming from a specific country, city, or institution:
At, near, or by: bij
To express proximity, use bij ("at", "near", or "by"). Use it when someone or something is physically close to an object:
It is also the standard preposition for being "at" a place of business, a person's house, or a landmark like a station:
Putting it all together
You can pair bij (at a location) with a verb like blijven (to stay):
You will also see uit and bij used alongside prepositions of place and direction you may already recognize, such as naar (to / towards) and in (in / inside):
One final note: When you are buying or fetching something at a store using the verb halen (to fetch / get), Dutch prefers to say you get it at the store (bij), rather than from the store:
