preposition
out of, from, made of
A1
aus is a dative preposition meaning 'out of', 'from', or 'made of' (e.g., aus dem Haus, aus Holz). It always governs the dative case. Not a two-way preposition; its antonym is an. Common uses: origin, material, or movement out of an enclosed space.
Examples
Ich komme aus Deutschland.
I'm from Germany.
Weil der Strom aus dem Generator kam, funktionierten die Geräte weiter, obwohl das normale Netz ausgefallen war.
Because the power came from the generator, the devices kept working even though the normal grid had failed.
Nimm das Buch aus der Tasche.
Take the book out of the bag.
Details
Mnemonics
picture a door being pushed 'out' (aus) of a room
sounds like 'ouse' in 'house' without the h; imagine going out (house -> ous)
Notes
aus always governs the dative case (e.g., aus dem Haus). It often appears in separable verbs as a prefix (aus-).