Breakdown of Im Ausland lerne ich gern eine neue Sprache.
neu
new
ich
I
gern
gladly
im
in the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
Questions & Answers about Im Ausland lerne ich gern eine neue Sprache.
What does im Ausland literally mean, and why don’t we just say in Ausland?
Im Ausland literally means in the foreign country / abroad.
- im is a contraction of in dem (in + the).
- Ausland is a noun (it means “foreign country / abroad”), so in German it normally takes an article: das Ausland (neuter).
So:
- in dem Ausland (dative) → contracted to im Ausland.
You cannot say in Ausland, because common nouns in German usually need an article; Ausland is not used like an English uncountable noun here.
What exactly is im in grammatical terms?
im = in + dem.
- in is a preposition.
- dem is the dative singular article for masculine and neuter nouns (“the”).
Because Ausland is neuter (das Ausland), and the preposition in here answers the question “Where?” (location, so dative), you get:
- in dem Ausland → contracted to im Ausland.
This contraction is very common and sounds more natural than the full form in everyday speech.
Why does the sentence start with Im Ausland instead of Ich? Is that normal word order?