"Ben is from Australia."

Translation: Ben kommt aus Australien.

[fA7iVwSJ]

Why is this australien not australia? As in "ben comes from australia"
He may be australien - but - he comes from australia.

[Hannah996772]

Because Australien means Australia, not Australian. The translation for Australian is Australisch as an Adjective and Australier or Australierin as a Verb. Australier is also the plural Australians.

[judithmack]

One small point: in German adjectives made from names of countries don't take a capital, so it's "australisch".

[marwan761855]

Good question

[marwan761855]

Good comment

[marwan761855]

Good reply

[marwan761855]

Good reply to a reply

[suhayl656511]

Good reply to a reply to a reply in a comment

[AbhiramD9]

If the question was 'Ben comes from Australia' ,then the answer would have been 'Ben kommt aus Australien' .
But the question is ' Ben is from Australia' , so the answer should be 'Ben ist aus Australien.
Please could anyone clear this doubt ??

[judithmack]

When talking about someone's place of origin, that is, where they were born and grew up, we say "He is from --" in English. In German you can say either "Er ist aus --" or "Er kommt aus --". Both are correct and interchangeable, but I understand the "kommen aus" form is more common among German-speakers and is more sophisticated.

[Cesar854943]

Seems unfair that I had a wrong answer as I didnt write Australien even though the srtucture used was correct

[judithmack]

Our owl has sprung another of these country names ending in "-ien" on us without warning. We've had Brasilien. There's also Italien and Spanien. Now there's Australien.

Brasilien
Italien
Spanien
Austalien

I'm not entirely certain how to say the "-ien" ending. Although the letters "ie" when together in one syllable are pronounced i: the ending "-ien" seems to be pronounced in two syllables. "Italien" sounds to us English-speakers like someone from Italy, not the country itself! The same is so of "Australien", as fA7iVwSJ said.

And how do we pronounce the "-ier" ending of "Australier" (meaning man or men of Australia)? I know the "-ier" of "der Vegetarier" ("the vegetarian") is said in two syllables and I expect "Australier" is the same.

Tricky! I can't help thinking it's as if "Australian" and "Australia" switched their meaning between English and German (at least if the "ia" isn't clearly enunciated) - but perhaps I shouldn't have said that in case it sows confusion and makes people think it's more difficult than it is! :-(