German Grammar A–Z
Look up German grammar topics A–Z, organized by category and level — with clear explanations and examples.
Distinguishing hin and her
Hin and her are two common adverbs of place (lokal adverb). It is entirely possible to confuse them. Today's article will help you tell hin and her apart.
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1. Distinguishing hin and her
| hin | her |
| - Describes movement directed away from the speaker - Corresponds to the question Wohin | - Describes movement directed toward the speaker - Corresponds to the question Woher |
| 🙋 ➩ Vom Sprecher weg | 🙋 ⇦ In Richtung Sprecher |
| Wohin gehst du? - Wo gehst du hin? → Where are you going? (From the position of the two people communicating, more precisely the speaker's position, where will you move to?) | Woher kommst du? - Wo kommst du her? → Where do you come from? (From which place did you move to the position of the two people communicating, more precisely the speaker's position?) |
2. How to use hin and her
- Hin and her are not used on their own; they go with a verb (Verb) or a preposition (Präposition) to determine the direction of the movement
a. Hin and her with verbs
- Hin and her combine with verbs of movement (kommen, fahren, gehen, bringen,...) to form separable verbs (Trennbare Verben)
Komm bitte her! Ich muss mit dir reden.
(Come here! I have to talk to you.)
→ herkommen in this case refers to moving to the speaker's place.
Geht bitte irgendwo anders hin! Ich brauche Ruhe!
(Please go somewhere else. I need peace and quiet!)
→ hingehen in this case refers to moving from the speaker's position to another position.
b. Hin and her with prepositions
- To determine the direction more precisely, hin and her are often combined with prepositions (aus, ein, auf, unter, über,...)
raus = hinaus/heraus
Similarly, we have: rauslaufen, rauskommen, rausfahren,....
Ich gehe aus dem Haus hinaus.
(I go out of the house.)
→ hinaus: going out and away from the speaker. The speaker is inside the house.
rein = hinein/herein
Similarly, we have: reinlaufen, reinkommen, reinfahren,....
Einen Moment bitte, ich lasse dich gleich herein.
(Wait a moment, I'll let you in right away.)
→ herein: going in and toward the speaker.
rauf = hinauf/herauf - Going up
Similarly, we have: rauflaufen, raufkommen, rauffahren,....
runter = hinunter/herunter - Going down
Similarly, we have: runterlaufen, runterkommen, runterfahren,....
rüber = hinüber/herüber - Going across
Similarly, we have: rüberlaufen, rüberkommen, rüberfahren,....
!!! Note:
- The abbreviated forms are also used as prefixes in some separable verbs.
Anna kam zu mir ins Haus rein.
(Anna came to my house.)
→ People write reinkommen instead of hereinkommen
- Because hin and her combined with prepositions are both written in the form r- + preposition, you have to rely on the context of the sentence to tell them apart
