When to use hier, her, hierher, dort hin, and daher ;)

A student asked me about the difference between the German words “her”, “hier” and “hierher / hier her” the other day - I was able to explain how and when we use them, but I couldn’t come up with a satisfying explanation for “hier her”. Why exactly do they team up sometimes? Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache… :woman_shrugging:

Well, I hope this might help you too:

  • “hier” is static and means just “here”. → Tom: “Sorry, die Bahn hatte Verspätung…” - Jerry: “Warum hast du nicht angerufen? Ich warte schon ewig hier!”

  • “her” is used for movements that end in the speaker’s location and could be literally translated as to(wards) here → “Komm mal bitte her!”

  • the hier in “hierher” / “hier her” is basically an intensifier for the plain old “her” → Lena ruft aufgeregt ihren Hund: “BELLO! HIER HER!” / “Ich bin hierher gekommen, um die Sprache zu lernen.”

  • “hin” is used for movements that end at another location. → Die Klassenlehrerin zeigt auf den leeren Platz und sagt zum neuen Schüler: “Setz dich bitte dort/da hin.”

  • “daher” is usually used in more formal situations. It means hence, or therefore. → “Sie haben das Formular nicht korrekt ausgefüllt, daher kann ich ihren Antrag leider nicht genehmigen.”

Here’s a link to a great thread regarding this topic :nerd_face:

Disclaimer: Be aware that some dialects mix them in a weird way. ¯\ _ (ツ)_/¯

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Such as Bavarians saying “BELLO! DA HER!”. or “Ich warte schon ewig da!”
We tend to substitute “hier” with “da” quite often :innocent:

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