B1-92 · Show direction with hin and her
City life
Describe movement towards and away from you in a changing city with hinein, heraus, herauf, hinunter, woher and wohin.
About 5 minutes to read · 12 quiz questions
01
Towards me or away from me?
Her points towards the speaker and hin points away from the speaker. Joined with a preposition, they show direction: hinein and herein mean into, hinaus and heraus mean out of. Always ask yourself where the speaker is.
Ich stehe vor der neuen Markthalle und gehe jetzt hinein.
I'm standing in front of the new market hall and I'm going in now.
Komm herein, ich sitze schon im Café.
Come in, I'm already sitting in the café.
Ich warte draußen. Kommst du bald heraus?
I'm waiting outside. Are you coming out soon?
Ich bleibe im Hof, und die Kinder laufen hinaus auf die Straße.
I'm staying in the courtyard, and the children run out onto the street.
If you move away from where you are, use hin: Ich gehe hinein. If someone comes to where you are, use her: Komm herein! Die Markthalle is the market hall and der Hof is the courtyard.
02
Up, down and across
The same rule works with other prepositions: hinauf and herauf mean up, hinunter and herunter mean down, hinüber and herüber mean over or across. The table shows each pair.
| Direction | Away from the speaker | Towards the speaker |
|---|---|---|
| into | hinein | herein |
| out of | hinaus | heraus |
| up | hinauf | herauf |
| down | hinunter | herunter |
| over, across | hinüber | herüber |
Ich bin auf der Dachterrasse. Komm doch herauf!
I'm on the roof terrace. Do come up!
Ich warte unten vor dem Haus. Kommst du herunter?
I'm waiting downstairs in front of the building. Are you coming down?
Wir fahren mit dem Aufzug in die Tiefgarage hinunter.
We take the lift down to the underground car park.
Ich gehe kurz hinüber zum Café auf der anderen Straßenseite.
I'm just going over to the café on the other side of the street.
In everyday speech people often shorten both forms to rein, raus, rauf, runter and rüber. In writing and in this lesson, use the full forms. Die Dachterrasse is the roof terrace and die Tiefgarage is the underground car park.
03
Where from, where to?
Woher asks about the starting point and wohin about the destination. In speech the her or hin often moves to the end of the question: Wo kommst du her? Wo ziehst du hin? In a changing neighbourhood, both questions come up a lot.
Woher kommen die neuen Bewohner? Viele kommen aus München.
Where do the new residents come from? Many come from Munich.
Wohin ziehen die Familien, wenn die Mieten steigen?
Where do families move to when the rents go up?
Wo kommst du her? Aus einem Dorf in Bayern.
Where do you come from? From a village in Bavaria.
Wo ziehst du hin? In ein günstigeres Viertel am Stadtrand.
Where are you moving to? To a cheaper neighbourhood on the edge of town.
Die Gentrifizierung means gentrification: rents rise, new people move in and others move out. Die Miete is the rent, das Viertel the neighbourhood, die Innenstadt the city centre and der Stadtrand the edge of town.
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