120 Comments
Just wondering why - there is movement from the eggs inside to the outside which should require accusative. I asked my 94 year old German born neighbor this question an her answer was "just because". Seems to be a very good answer for many things in German!
there is movement [...] which should require accusative.
Movement, in and of itself, doesn't require any particular case.
There are some prepositions that can take either the dative or the accusative case -- and with those prepositions, the accusative case is used when the preposition indicates the destination of movement.
But there are prepositions that always imply movement, and so there's no need for any particular case to distinguish the movement meaning from a location meaning.
These include von "from, away from", aus "from out of", and zu "to", which all happen to take the dative case, as well as durch "through", which happens to take the accusative case.
It doesn't mean anything! It is supposed to say that if a noun comes after prepositions like aus and whatever, that noun comes as Dative. So calm down. Inhale and exhale!
439
'aus' to state that it comes out of something. It must have been inside. 'Von' could be explained as coming from a point. ∙→
But we say: ich komme aus England, which means "from" and that is a geographical/physical point, there is not inside there, right?
- 439
True, but better take it as an image and not literally. If you come from a country you have been inside and you have to get out of it Ͼ→ (aus). “Ich komme aus England,” would mean for example that you live / or make vacation inside of the country and now you get out of it, even though the translation says “from”. On the other hand |→ “Ich komme von England,” would probably see the place as on a map. As I have been writing you can see “aus” like this Ͼ→ (out of) and “von” like this |→ (from a point).
The way the Germans think of it is that you were there and you came out of it. It is very similar to the egg situation if you think about it as you were in(side) England and you came out of it but both can be translated as "from" in English.
Sort of. Be wary of prepositions, they're very arbitrary from language to language. All of a sudden, something you think means "for" is being used like "to".
IMO that's because a lot of the relationships they describe are actually metaphoric.
I am surprised no one mentioned the mnemonic song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1O_Z9Wo-8
I do not understand why it is dative? If the egg is the indirect object, then what is the subject and object. Presuming this is a response to 'Where did Duo come from?' Would Duo be the subject? Then what is the object?
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MillieMoo22
Some prepositions always signal the case of the following noun.
Aus introduces the dative case. As does außer, bei, gegenüber, mit, nach and some others.
Für, bis, ohne, durch and others introduce the accusative case.
So....you know that the article will be dative because aus tells you it has to be. Wherever this phrase was lifted from, it would be written in the dative. The presence of aus tells you all you need to know about that sentence to determine what case it should be in. If it wasn't grammatically correct to place the egg in the dative case in that sentence, then aus would not be the preposition introducing it.
I assume that the point of this Duo example is for you to come away with the idea that ...aus = dative. Aus = dem, der, dem, den/ einem, einer, einem, einen...masculine, feminine, neuter, plural form.
If you learn the prepositions that always take a particular case then you don't have to trouble yourself over what case a given phrase is. Those prepositions, if they are available, tell you which case much faster than you can figure it out for yourself.
Undoubtedly, there are some examples that are exceptions but you can take it as a general rule, while keeping your mind open.
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From an egg is a phrase. It does not have a subject verb object order because it is not a sentence.
Why is "einem" marked "a/an masc/neut nominative"? I thought those were both "ein" in nominative. Thank you!
It is because it is an un finished sentence. And prepositions are used for accusative and dative. Since this is a dative case hence einum is used and not ein.
Because aus is a dative preposition, It causes Ei to take the dative indefinite article einem. Their list of dative prepositions is actually on Duolingo's explanation of Accusative Prepositions
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The indirect object of the sentence. The object of some prepositions in phrases.
When do we use einem, einer, einen in sentences? Or in similar statements, meinem, meiner, meinen?
There is a helpful explanation page at the beginning of the Duolingo lesson on "Dative case" if you click the lightbulb icon.
Why does it have to be "from an egg"? Why not "over an egg"? It says one of the translations of aus is over.
You probably would never use the sentence 'over an egg' - in this context, it's probably the answer to the question 'woher kommen Hähnchen?'
It's asking from where ___ is coming from. In this case, a bird or something of similar form since he's saying "from/out of an egg". Technically, I suppose the answer could also be a platypus. But, like derwaliser said...
"Where do chickens come from?" (woher kommen Hähnchen) "They come from eggs" (aus einem Ei, or, Sie kommen aus einem Ei)
Exactly, and how would that be in German? I imagine no "aus" would be used.
As I understand it the translation of "aus" as "over" is not referring to the positional meaning of "over". It is used as a colloquial way of saying that something is finished e.g. "es ist aus" meaning "it is over" so it does not work here at all. http://context.reverso.net/traduction/allemand-anglais/es+ist+aus The hints are very dependent on context and do not necessarily apply in the current exercise.
Because over an egg makes no sense. Aus einem Ei tells you where something came from (i.e. die Strumpfhose kam aus einem Ei). In this case you find that the pantyhose came from an egg. Were you to use over the sentence would make no sense.
Not completely sure, but I think you would have to use "über" to mean over in this case.
I think so, in the sense of "coming out of a house", i.e. specifically through a doorway for example. To come "from" a house, i.e. from a house to a shop, would use von.
And to answer your confusion about einer/einem, it is einem because aus is a 'dative preposition' (what follows it is always in dative case), and Haus is a neuter object (and the declension pattern for neuter objects in dative case is -em. There's no way for a singular neuter object to get a -er declension in any case. As an extra complication, some nouns can also change their endings in dative case - so it could also be einem Hause (but this seems to be optional this time).
You can also be more specific about whether it is "going out from" or "coming out from" by using hinaus or heraus respectively. When talking about an egg, though, I don't think it's usual to consider the perspective of remaining inside the egg so you'd just say aus without any ambiguity.
Thank you- can you give me a link/list where I can find more help on dative/accusative/nominative case?
Duolingo has lesson tips at the start of the lessons on accusative case and dative case if you use the web version (even on a phone - look for the light bulb icon). Also, practising those lessons and reading the comments you will find many tips and useful links.
I guess there's an implied "It comes" at the beginning ("Das Hähnchen kommt aus einem Ei") So Dative is also used for coming from something as well as going to something?
It depends on the preposition.
aus "from out of" requires the dative case, as does zu "to".
Note, however, that those prepositions that can take either dative or accusative generally require the accusative when motion towards is intended, e.g. in + dative is "in" while in + accusative is "into"; similarly with auf for "on" (location) versus "onto" (destination of movement).
The preposition "aus" is always followed by the dative case. "Ei" is neuter, and the dative neuter form of "ein" is "einem".
Cases overview: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_sum.htm
Dative prepositions: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat2.htm
They mean the same thing ("a" or "an"), but the ending has to change (called inflection) because German nouns have gender which works as a kind of 'signal' that causes inflection according to grammar rules.
There is a good introduction if you view this lesson in a web browser.
I don't know about anyone else, but I put einem in my answer and then went back to listen to it again because I thought she said einen and she did say einen, so I changed it and got it wrong. I am so tired of doing this.
Is it possible the endings are not pronounced clearly to see if we can come up with the correct word? I know when I hear it correctly I get it right, but now I'm also getting it even when they don't pronouce it so it can be understood because I know how it is used. Just a thought.
"Aus" requires Dativ case and Ei is neutrum (das Ei), so it becomes "Aus einem Ei"
Are Latin phrases usually translated into German or used directly? I mean would you say "Aus einem Ei " or "Ab ovo"?
There's is 'ein', eine', 'einen', 'einer', and 'einem'. Is there anywhere where I can find an explanation as to when to use each of these?
So in German we consider the ablative case as the dative case, right?
I mean, we use "aus" here but also put the rest of the sentence in dative.
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Dative is not ablativ: Dativ is used with certain prepositions. “Aus” is one of them. It is also used with some phrasal verbs and as an indirect object. Indirect objects are usually people. For example: “The teacher gives the book to the boy. / Der Lehrer gibt dem Jungen das Buch”. "The boy / dem Jungen" would be the indirect object. There are many tutorials in the internet where you can find out which prepositions use the accusative or dativ case. I wish you good luck.
reported this in Der Hund gibt einen Apfel einem Mann, but I am reporting it here as well. In the audio when played normal you hear "einem", but when you play it slow, Dou very clearly states "einen".
But question for Dativ is - for whom?/ to whom? - not from whom. It would make more sense if this sentence was in Genitive.
Those may be good questions for the dative standing on its own.
Ich kaufe dir ein Buch. For whom do I buy the book? For you.
Ich gebe dir ein Buch. To whom do I give the book? To you.
But here the dative stands after a preposition and it's the preposition that determines the case. aus takes the dative case in German, not the genitive.
So, is it because "it" (whatever it is) is 'from an egg' the egg is dative because the "it" would be accusitive? Ot can this statement be another case in a different situation? Like the sentance "the bird came from an egg" would it be said "der Vogel kommt aus einem Ei"? Or would it be "der Vogel kommt aus ein ei?"
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Exactly, and to give an other example: Aus einer Tüte (die Tüte) / Aus den Tüten / Aus einem Baumstamm
Please- someone help me! I really do not understand this. Can someone explain this concept?
"Aus" is a dative preposition, i.e. it's always followed by the dative case.
"Ei" is neuter, and "einem" is the indefinite article ("a") used for neuter and masculine dative.
"Einen" is masculine accusative, i.e. the wrong case and the wrong gender here.
See also my comment and the links below.
could this also be used to indicate that "you're making something out of an egg" for example food, or it's just to indicate that DUO did indeed come out from the egg? :)
This would be interpreted in the second way. But it could also mean the first way. Just as the English phrase "From an egg".
A later Duolingo lesson teaches some other meanings of aus.
No, that doesn't sound right to me. If you're a native English-speaker I'm interested to know where from, but if you're not then just take it as a lesson that it should be "out of an egg".
I forgot that 'aus' can also be translated as 'from', translating the sentence as 'from an egg' makes more sense to me. Thanks for your help!
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Bubbawski
Your sentence is unclear as to whether an egg came out of a chicken or a chicken came out of an egg. That is because an essential element of your sentence is missing.
In hindsight, 'out an egg' does sound wrong. I think if 'aus' is translated as 'from' the sentence makes much more sense. Thanks for your help!
