Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

For coming out of a place, aus (+ dat.) heraus or hinter (+ dat.) hervor is used:

Er kam hinter dem Vorhang hervor.

He came out from behind the curtain.

Die Maus kroch aus dem Loch heraus/hervor.

The mouse crept out of the hole.

80.6 Following and preceding someone/something

(a) In order to express that someone is following someone else, jmdm. folgen ‘to follow

sb.’ or the prefixes nach- or hinterher- before verbs of movement are used. The person

being followed is in the dative:

Ist es Ihnen auch unangenehm, wenn Ihnen nachts jemand

nachgeht?

Do you also find it unpleasant when someone follows you at night?

Du findest unser Haus am einfachsten, wenn du mir einfach

hinterherfährst.

It is easiest to find our house if you simply follow me (by car).

These expressions can also be used in an abstract sense:

Diese Sache müssen Sie verfolgen./Dieser Sache müssen Sie

nachgehen.

You must follow up this matter.

(b) voraus- denotes going ahead of or preceding someone:

Da ich mich nicht in der Stadt auskannte, bat ich einen Taxifahrer,

mir vorauszufahren.

Since I didn’t know my way about town I asked a taxi-driver to drive

ahead of me.

Die Nachricht wird ihr schon vorausgeeilt sein.

The news will have gone before her/preceded her.

Meine Bücher hatte ich schon vorausgeschickt.

I had sent my books on ahead (i.e. before I went myself).

80.7 The speaker’s perspective

The prefixes her- and hin- indicate the speaker’s perspective.

her*kommen is used to refer to someone coming towards the speaker, while

hin*gehen refers to someone going away from the speaker towards someone or

something else.

 See also 50.4 (p. 130) for adverbs such as hierher and dorthin.

(a) Towards the speaker

Komm jetzt bitte (zu mir) herunter!

Please come down (to me) now.

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PUTTING EVENTS INTO A WIDER CONTEXT