German pays close attention to perspective in space. Where English often makes do with in, out, up, or down, German uses two tiny directional markers—hin and her—to show whether movement goes away from or toward the speaker. Once you understand this speaker-centered compass, questions, separable prefix verbs, and everyday commands click into place immediately.
The Core Distinction: Away vs. Toward
Imagine yourself standing in one spot acting as the anchor point:
- hin = movement away from the speaker’s location:
- Geh hin! (Go there / Go over there!)
- Ich schaue zum Fenster (das Fenster) hin. (I look over toward the window.)
- her = movement toward the speaker’s location:
- Komm her! (Come here!)
- Gib mir das Buch (das Buch) her! (Hand the book over to me!)
Notice how natural verb pairings reinforce the direction: gehen (to go) frequently pairs with hin, while kommen (to come) naturally pairs with her. Still, it is your physical or mental viewpoint—not the verb alone—that decides. If you are inside your apartment and call to a friend standing in the hallway, they are moving toward you, so you say: Komm herein!
Combining hin and her with Prepositions
By attaching hin- or her- to spatial prepositions (aus, ein, auf, unter, über), German builds exact directional adverbs and separable verb prefixes. Compare how every pair splits cleanly by perspective:
| Direction | Away from Speaker (hin-) | Toward Speaker (her-) | Examples with Articles & Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|
| out | hinaus | heraus | Er ging hinaus. (He went out.) / Komm heraus! (Come out [to me]!) |
| in | hinein | herein | Sie ging ins Zimmer (das Zimmer) hinein. (She went in.) / Kommen Sie herein! (Come in!) |
| up | hinauf | herauf | Er stieg den Berg (der Berg) hinauf. (He climbed up.) / Komm herauf! (Come up here!) |
| down | hinunter | herunter | Er ging die Treppe (die Treppe) hinunter. (He went down.) / Komm herunter! (Come down!) |
| across | hinüber | herüber | Er schwamm über den Fluss (der Fluss) hinüber. (He swam across.) / Komm herüber! (Come over here!) |
Two helpful spelling details to note:
- Inside these compounds, in turns into -ein (hinein, herein), never hinin or herin.
- In the Perfekt and infinitive phrases, hin- and her- compounds act as separable prefixes: Sie ist hereingekommen (She came in), Er hat hinausgeschaut (He looked out).
Spoken Short Forms (raus, rein, runter, rauf, rüber)
In everyday spoken German, the full hin- and her- forms often sound formal or literary—except in polite greetings like Kommen Sie herein! (Come in!). In daily conversation, German speakers shorten the her- forms to a brisk r- prefix, and use these contracted forms for both directions (away and toward):
| Full Written Form | Spoken Contraction | Everyday Examples (Both Directions) |
|---|---|---|
| heraus / hinaus | raus | Geh raus! (Get out! / Go outside!) · Komm raus! (Come out!) |
| herein / hinein | rein | Komm rein! (Come in!) · Leg das Heft (das Heft) in die Tasche (die Tasche) rein. (Put the notebook in!) |
| herunter / hinunter | runter | Geh runter! (Go down!) · Hol die Kiste (die Kiste) aus dem Keller (der Keller) runter. |
| herauf / hinauf | rauf | Komm rauf! (Come up!) · Lauf den Hügel (der Hügel) rauf! (Run up the hill!) |
| herüber / hinüber | rüber | Komm rüber! (Come on over!) · Bring mir den Teller (der Teller) rüber! |
Even though raus, rein, runter, rauf, rüber originally developed from her- forms, modern German uses them regardless of whether the motion moves away from or toward the speaker. In formal writing or standard grammar tests, however, keep the hin- vs. her- distinction exact.
Asking Direction Questions: Wohin? vs. Woher?
Combine the question word wo (where) with hin or her to ask clearly about destination versus origin—the exact same directional logic behind two-way prepositions:
- Wo? (Where? — static location): Wo wohnst du? (Where do you live?)
- Wohin? (Where to? — destination away from here): Wohin gehst du? (Where are you going?)
- Woher? (Where from? — origin toward here): Woher kommst du? (Where do you come from?)
In casual conversation, speakers also frequently split wohin and woher, leaving the directional marker at the very end of the clause:
- Wo gehst du hin? (= Wohin gehst du?)
- Wo kommst du her? (= Woher kommst du?)
Check our guide on interrogative pronouns to review how wohin and woher fit alongside the other W-Fragen.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| (Inside calling someone in): Komm hinein! | Komm herein! | The visitor is moving toward you inside the room, so perspective requires her-. |
| Wohin kommst du? (asking country of origin) | Woher kommst du? | Woher? asks for origin (“from where”), while wohin? asks for destination (“to where”). |
| Geh in das Zimmer her. | Geh ins Zimmer hinein (or rein). | Direction into a room away from the speaker takes hinein (or colloquial rein). |
| Er ist gekommen herein. | Er ist hereingekommen. | Herein- acts as a separable prefix, forming one word with the participle (hereingekommen). |