Basic prepositions of place and time (in, aus, nach, bei, um, am)

Six small words do most of the work of talking about place and time in everyday German: aus, nach, in, bei, um, and am. Rather than one grammar rule, think of them as answering four practical questions: where someone is from, where they are, where they're going, and when something happens.

Quick shortcut: aus = from · nach/in = going to · in/bei = being at · um = clock time · am = day/date.

Where someone is from: aus

Aus says where someone or something originates. With a country or city name, no article is needed:

• Ich komme aus Deutschland. (I come from Germany.)
• Sie kommt aus Berlin. (She comes from Berlin.)

A few country names do take an article — die Schweiz, die Türkei, die USA — and after aus they need the dative form of that article: Ich komme aus der Schweiz. / Ich komme aus der Türkei. / Ich komme aus den USA (die USA is plural, so it takes the dative plural article den). At A1, most countries you'll name (Deutschland, Russland, Frankreich, Japan, China...) need no article at all, so treat the article-taking ones as exceptions to recognize rather than the default pattern.

Where someone is going: nach and in

For a city or a country with no article, use nach:

• Ich fahre nach Berlin. (I'm going to Berlin.)
• Wir fliegen nach Japan. (We're flying to Japan.)

For a building, room, or other place that takes an article — including the article-taking countries above — use in, and here it behaves exactly like the accusative you already know, because movement into somewhere takes the accusative:

• Ich gehe in den Park. (I'm going into the park.) — masculine, der → den
• Ich gehe in die Schule. (I'm going to school.) — feminine, unchanged
• Ich gehe ins Kino. (I'm going to the cinema.) — neuter, in das contracts to ins
• Ich fahre in die Schweiz. (I'm going to Switzerland.) — same accusative pattern, not nach

This is the same masculine-only change you already know from every other accusative article — in just adds the contraction ins for the neuter, purely for pronunciation. In + accusative is the pattern for going into a place — plenty of other destinations use different prepositions you'll meet separately (zum Bahnhof, zur Arbeit, zum Arzt), so don't assume in is the automatic choice for every "going to."

Where someone is: in and bei

Once you're already at a place rather than heading there, German switches to a different case after in — the dative — which you'll study in full later. For now, learn the two common patterns as fixed chunks:

• Ich bin im Büro. (I'm at the office.) — in dem contracts to im, for masculine and neuter
• Ich bin in der Schule. (I'm at school.) — feminine, in der

Compare the pair directly: ✅ Ich gehe in die Schule (going there, accusative) vs. ✅ Ich bin in der Schule (already there, dative) — same building, different form, because one describes motion and the other a fixed location.

Bei also takes the dative, and is how you say you're with a person, at someone's home, or at a professional appointment — bei mir (at my place), bei meiner Familie (with my family), beim Arzt (at the doctor's — bei dem contracts to beim). It's not a general word for "at a place," though — for a place like school, stick with in: in der Schule, not bei der Schule.

• Ich bin bei meiner Familie. (I'm with my family.)
• Wir treffen uns bei mir. (We're meeting at my place.)

When something happens: um and am

For a clock time, use um:

• Der Zug kommt um neun Uhr. (The train arrives at nine o'clock.)
• Treffen wir uns um acht? (Shall we meet at eight?)

For a day of the week, most parts of the day, or a date, use am — itself a contraction of an dem:

• Ich arbeite am Montag. (I work on Monday.)
• Wir treffen uns am Vormittag. (We're meeting in the morning.)
• Sie kommt am dritten Mai. (She's arriving on the third of May.)

The exception is die Nacht (the night), which uses in der Nacht instead — ✅ in der Nacht, not ❌ am Nacht. (For talking about habitual times of day — "in the mornings," as a regular thing — German also has one-word adverbs like morgens, abends; that's a detail for later, not the am pattern above.)

For a month or a season, German uses im (the same contraction of in dem you already met above) rather than am:

• Mein Geburtstag ist im Mai. (My birthday is in May.)
• Es ist kalt im Winter. (It's cold in winter.)

Common mistakes

• ❌ Ich komme aus der Deutschland. → ✅ Ich komme aus Deutschland. — most country names take no article at all; only a handful (like die Schweiz) do
• If you mean "I'm going to school": ❌ Ich gehe in der Schule. → ✅ Ich gehe in die Schule. — going into somewhere is accusative, not dative; in der Schule actually means "inside the school," walking around
• ❌ Ich bin in die Schule. → ✅ Ich bin in der Schule. — the reverse mistake: being somewhere already is dative, not accusative
• If you mean "I'm going to Berlin": ❌ Ich fahre in Berlin. → ✅ Ich fahre nach Berlin. — cities and countries use nach, not in, for "going to"; Ich fahre in Berlin actually means "I'm driving around inside Berlin"
• ❌ Wir treffen uns in Montag. → ✅ Wir treffen uns am Montag. — days of the week use am, not in

Quick check

Fill in the correct preposition (and article form where needed).

1. Ich komme ____ Russland. (origin)
2. Wir fahren ____ Paris. (destination, city)
3. Er ist ____ (in) Büro. (already there, neuter)
4. Ich gehe ____ (in) Park. (going there, masculine)
5. Der Film beginnt ____ acht Uhr. (clock time)
6. Sie kommt ____ Freitag. (day of the week)

Key takeaways

• Aus says where someone is from — usually no article with a country or city name.
• Nach is for going to a city or country (no article); in + accusative is for going into a building or place (in den/die/ins).
• In + dative is for already being at a place (im, in der); bei + dative is for being with a person, at their home, or at a professional appointment (bei mir, beim Arzt) — not a general word for "at a place."
• Um introduces a clock time; am (from an dem) introduces a day of the week, most parts of the day, or a date — except die Nacht, which uses in der Nacht.
• Im (from in dem) also introduces a month or a season: im Mai, im Winter.
• Common contractions to recognize: ins (in das), im (in dem), beim (bei dem), am (an dem).