hin, her, hinein, herein, heraus, hinaus, hierin, hierhin etc..?

[Richard Hayden]

Hi,

I'm confused about all the hin, her, hinein, herein, heraus, hinaus, hierin,
hierhin style words. They seem to appear as parts of seperable verbs for
example herkommen, hereinkommen etc.or as adverbs for example 'darueber
hinaus'.

Could someone perhaps explain the meanings of them. I always thought that
'hin' was to do with going to something, whereas 'her' had to do with coming
from, for example "Wohin faehrst du?" and "Woher kommst du?". However, my
dictionary says that 'herkommen' means 'to come here', whereas I would've
have though it meant 'to come from'.

I doubt my list above is exhaustive, so I'd also be grateful for an
explanation of any I've missed as well.

Thanks,

--

Richard Hayden (rahayden...@yahoo.co.uk)

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[Diedrich Ehlerding]

Richard Hayden meinte:

> Could someone perhaps explain the meanings of them. I always thought
> that 'hin' was to do with going to something, whereas 'her' had to do
> with coming from, for example "Wohin faehrst du?" and "Woher kommst
> du?". However, my dictionary says that 'herkommen' means 'to come
> here', whereas I would've have though it meant 'to come from'.

"her" and "hin" refer to the direction of a movement. "her" means "from
somewhere else to here", "hin" means "from here to somewhere else".

For example: you and your wive are inside your house. She leaves: "sie
geht hinaus"; and she returns afterwards: "sie kommt herein".

Your neighbor is just standing next door and watches her. From his point
of view, when she leaves: "sie kommt heraus" (because she comes from
somewhereelse to the place outside the house where this neighbor
happens to see her), and afterwards, she retuns: "sie geht hinein"
(away from the neighbor into the house).

Diedrich
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[Michael Hemmer]

Richard Hayden wrote:
> I'm confused about all the hin, her, hinein, herein, heraus, hinaus, hierin,
> hierhin style words. They seem to appear as parts of seperable verbs for
> example herkommen, hereinkommen etc.or as adverbs for example 'darueber
> hinaus'.
>
> Could someone perhaps explain the meanings of them. I always thought that
> 'hin' was to do with going to something, whereas 'her' had to do with coming
> from, for example "Wohin faehrst du?" and "Woher kommst du?". However, my
> dictionary says that 'herkommen' means 'to come here', whereas I would've
> have though it meant 'to come from'.

So where's the contradiction? Every movement (whether physical or
figurative) has both a starting and an end point, and so has
"herkommen". The starting point as eplicitly mentioned (or left out if
it is unimportant), while the end point is implied ("here", wherever
that happens to be). Please note that "herkommen" is primarily used in
questions, while the verb "kommen" in the answer lacks the "her-" prefix
(if it is included at all):

- Woher kommst du?
Where (what country, city, etc.) are you from?
("Here" is actually insignificant.)
- [Ich komme] aus Deutschland.
("Here" is actually insignificant.)

- Woher kommst du?
Where (what store, etc.) are you coming from?
- [Ich komme] aus dem Schuhgeschäft/von der Universität/...
("Here" is modestly significant.)

In informal speech you will often hear "Wo kommst du her?" for both of
them. And there's, of course, the imperative:

- Komm her!
Come here!
("Here" is very, very important ;-) )

This is certainly not exhaustive, but I hope it helps a bit.

Michael

[Sebastian Koppehel]

"Richard Hayden" <rahay...@yahoo.co.uk> writes:

> Could someone perhaps explain the meanings of them. I always thought that
> 'hin' was to do with going to something, whereas 'her' had to do with coming
> from, for example "Wohin faehrst du?" and "Woher kommst du?".

Hin = thither = to that place
Her = hither = to this place

Since "hin" describes a movement toward a distant place, while "her"
describes a movement toward the speaker, in connection with "wo",
"hin" means "where to", and "her" means "where from".

It hasn't always been this way. In bygone days, instead of "woher",
one would say "(von) wannen":

"Ich wüßte nicht, wer der und wannen er entsprossen." -- Logau.
"I wouldn't know who he (is) and whence he sprouted."

And instead of "wohin", our ancestors said "war":

"Sich Herr, wir volgen war du wilt,
du bist ye unser Burg und Schildt." -- Th. Gart
"See, Lord, we follow whither you will,
for you are our castle (shelter) and shield."

(Of course my translations of the ancient lines are deliberately
literal.)

> However, my dictionary says that 'herkommen' means 'to come here',
> whereas I would've have though it meant 'to come from'.

"Herkommen" literally and practically means "to come hither". But of
course it can also be used to indicate _from where_ someone is
approaching, as in the famous first words of a well-known christmas
carol:

"Von drauß(en) vom Walde komm ich her
und muß euch sagen, es weihnachtet sehr."

("Weihnachtet" being an early example for excessive verbing in the
German language :-))

- Sebastian

[Richard Hayden]

Danke, sehr ausfuehrlich und interessant!