Breakdown of Der Ausländer kommt aus Italien.
kommen
to come
aus
from / out of (made of)
Italien
Italy
der Ausländer
the foreigner
Questions & Answers about Der Ausländer kommt aus Italien.
Why do we use aus instead of von to say where he comes from?
When stating someone's origin or home country, German always uses kommen aus (literally "to come out of"). You would use von if you were talking about traveling back from a specific location, like returning from a store or a friend's house.
Why isn't there an article before Italien?
Most country names in German, including Italien, are neuter and are used without an article. You only use an article after aus for a few exceptional countries, like aus der Schweiz (from Switzerland), aus der Türkei (from Turkey), or aus den USA (from the USA).
How would I change this sentence if the foreigner were a woman?
The noun der Ausländer is the masculine form. For a female, you add the ending -in to make it die Ausländerin. The sentence would then be: Die Ausländerin kommt aus Italien.
What is the literal breakdown of the word Ausländer?
It is made of three simple parts you likely already know: aus (out of), Land (country), and the suffix -er (which indicates a person). Put together, it literally translates to an "out-of-country person".
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