Word
Wir kommen von der Arbeit.
Meaning
We are coming from work.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wir kommen von der Arbeit.
kommen
to come
wir
we
die Arbeit
the work
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
Questions & Answers about Wir kommen von der Arbeit.
Why does the sentence use der Arbeit instead of die Arbeit?
The preposition von always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. Because Arbeit is a feminine noun (die Arbeit), its article changes from die to der in the dative case.
Why is there a 'the' (der) before work, when in English we just say 'from work'?
In German, you usually need a definite article before general locations or concepts like work, school, or nature, even when English drops the word 'the'. So you are literally saying 'We are coming from the work.'
Is there a short combined word for von der?
Why is there no word for 'are' in the German sentence?
German does not have a separate '-ing' form to show something is happening right now. The single present tense verb kommen covers both 'come' and 'are coming', so you just say Wir kommen.