"hin oder her?" - The Meaning
The Adverb „hin“ describes a movement away from the speaker.
The Adverb „her“ describes movement towards the speaker.
The questions „Woher?“ and „Wohin?“ ask about the direction.
They can be written together or separately.
- „Wohin gehst du?“ – „Wo gehst du hin?“
- „Woher kommst du?“ – „Wo kommst du her?“
Combined with Adverbs
When combining Locative Adverbs (Lokale Adverbien) with „hin“ or „her“ they always indicate an exact direction from or to the speaker.
Examples: Dahin, daher, dorthin, dorther, hierhin, hierher
- „Ich gehe dorthin, wo wir uns das erste Mal getroffen haben.“
They are not combined directly with the other adverbs. If you still want to express a direction, you combine back and forth with the verb.
Combined with Verbs
„Hin“ and „her“ are often used as a Prefix with a Separable Verb.
This works with all verbs of motion.
They then indicate the corresponding direction of the movement.
- „Komm bitte her! Ich muss mit dir reden.“
- „Geht bitte irgendwo anders hin! Ich brauche Ruhe!“
Combined with a Preposition and a Verb
To further specify the direction, we often combine them with German Prepositions.
- „Anna kam zur mir ins Haus herein und ging gleich wieder hinaus.“
- „Ich will den Berg hinauflaufen und dann wieder herunterlaufen.“
- „Du ich kann über die Mauer hinübersehen, aber auch er kann von der anderen Seite herübersehen.“
Interesting Fact:
If you combine "hin" and "her" with a Preposition, there are short forms that are much more popular than the actual combination hin or her + Preposition.
These are also used as a Prefix in a Separable Verb
- raus = hinaus / heraus rein = hinein / herein
- rauf = hinauf / herauf runter = hinunter / herunter
- rüber = hinüber / herüber
Using the Combined Versions
raus = hinaus / heraus
- „Ich gehe (aus dem Haus) raus.“
Similarly to: rauslaufen, rauskommen, rausfahren, rausrennen, rausschwimmen, raustragen, rausschauen …
rein = hinein / herein
- „Ich gehe (in das Haus) rein.“
Similarly to: reinlaufen, reinkommen, reinfahren, reinrennen, reintragen, reinschauen, …
rauf = hinauf / herauf
- „Ich gehe auf den Berg rauf.“
Similarly to: rauflaufen, raufkommen, rauffahren, raufrennen, rauftragen, raufklettern,
raufbringen …
runter = hinunter / herunter
- „Ich gehe in den Keller runter.“
Similarly to: runterlaufen, runterkommen, runterfahren, runterrennen, runtertragen,
rüber = hinüber / herüber
- „Ich klettere am besten dort über den Zaun rüber.“
Similarly to: rüberlaufen, rüberkommen, rüberfahren, rübertragen, rüberbringen, …
„rüber“ bedeutet im Übertragenen Sinne: sich von einer Seite zur anderen Seite zu bewegen.
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Summary
- There and back always describe a movement in a certain direction.
- „Hin“ means a movement away from the speaker and „her“ means towards the speaker.
- You can combine to and from with Local Adverbs or Verbs.
- The combination with Prepositions is mostly used only abbreviated.
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Related Topics:
Entire lesson in German only: Unterschied zw. „hin“ & „her“
Other lessons on Adverbs include are:
- Was sind Adverbien? (What are Adverbs?)
- Temporaladverbien (Temporal Adverbs)
- Lokale Adverbien (Local Adverbs)
- Konjuktionaladverbien (Conjunctional Adverbs)
- Partikel - Was sind Partikel? (Particles - What are Particles?)
- Modalpartikel - die richtige verwendung (Modal Particles - the correct use)
You can find an overview of all topics under German Grammar.
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