Breakdown of Aus der kleinen Straße fahren wir nach links.
klein
small
aus
from / out of (made of)
wir
we
fahren
to drive, to travel
Questions & Answers about Aus der kleinen Straße fahren wir nach links.
Why does the adjective klein end in -en (kleinen)?
This is because the phrase is in the dative case. Whenever you have a definite article (like der, dem, or den) in the dative case, the adjective that follows it always gets an -en ending, no matter the gender of the noun.
Wait, Straße is feminine (die Straße). Why is the article der here?
The preposition aus is a "dative preposition," meaning it always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.
Could I use von instead of aus to mean "from" in this sentence?
You will sometimes hear von for "from," but aus translates more closely to "out of." German speakers often treat a street (especially one with buildings on the sides) as a 3D space, so you drive "out of" it (aus der Straße) rather than just away from it.
Why is the verb fahren placed before the subject wir?
This is due to the "verb second" rule in German. The entire prepositional phrase Aus der kleinen Straße counts as position one. Because the verb must come second, fahren takes position two, pushing the subject wir into position three.