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A1 · Time and place prepositions

von … bis

from one time or place to another

Formvon + Zeit/Ort (Dativ) … bis + Zeit/Ort

Meaning and usage

von … bis gives a range with a clear start and a clear end. You put the starting point after von and the end point after bis: von Montag bis Donnerstag, von neun bis fünf. The middle word bis never changes. The word after von usually takes the dative, but at A1 you can learn the whole chunk as one unit.

Use it for times, days, months and places: von 9 bis 18 Uhr, von Januar bis März, von Berlin bis München. The one mistake to avoid is leaving out von and saying only bis: bis Montag means 'until Monday', not 'from Monday to Monday'.

Examples 5

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Der Kurs geht 9 bis 11 Uhr.

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    Correct answer: von

    von … bis is the fixed pairing for a range with a start and an end. von 9 bis 11 Uhr means the course runs from nine to eleven.

    • ab can name a starting point, but ab 9 bis 11 Uhr is not the standard pairing taught at A1, and the sentence needs the opening word of the von … bis frame.
    • um marks a single clock time, not a range, so it cannot open a bis phrase.
    • seit refers to a period that started in the past and continues, so it does not fit a course with a fixed end at eleven.

In this topic: Time and place prepositions

  1. am Montag, am Abend on Monday, in the evening
  2. im Januar, im Sommer in a month or season
  3. um acht Uhr at + clock time
  4. von … bis from one time or place to another
  5. nächste Woche, jeden Tag next week, every day: no preposition, accusative
  6. vor zwei Jahren ago, with a length of time
  7. Ich komme aus … saying where someone or something comes from
  8. nach Berlin, zum Arzt, in die Schule to a town, to a person, into a place
  9. zu Hause, nach Hause at home vs. going home
  10. bei at someone's home, at a company, near a place
  11. zum, zur, ins, beim, vom zum, zur, ins, beim, vom: preposition and article as one

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.