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When giving urgent commands—like during a frantic submarine emergency drill—Germans use short, colloquial directional adverbs. 

Standard written German uses *her-* (toward the speaker) and *hin-* (away from the speaker) to show direction. Everyday spoken German often drops these in favor of a snappy **r-**.

### Rein and Raus (In and Out)

*Hinein* and *herein* become **rein** (in). *Hinaus* and *heraus* become **raus** (out).

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These short "r-" forms often act as separable verb prefixes. In a command or simple present-tense sentence, they jump to the end of the clause.

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### Runter and Rauf (Down and Up)

For vertical movement, *hinunter* and *herunter* become **runter** (down). *Hinauf* and *herauf* become **rauf** (up).

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### Rüber (Over)

If you need someone to cross a space or hand something over, *hinüber* and *herüber* shorten to **rüber** (over).

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Keep an ear out for these "r-" words at the end of the commander's sentences!

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Colloquial directional adverbs (rein, raus, runter)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
in (adverb, inward)	rein
The water is coming in!	Das Wasser kommt rein!
Come inside immediately!	Komm sofort rein!
out	raus
We have to get out of here.	Wir müssen hier raus.
Bring the boxes out!	Bring die Kisten raus!
the submarine	das U-Boot
to dive	tauchen
down	runter
The submarine dives down.	Das U-Boot taucht runter.
Go down quickly!	Geh schnell runter!
up	rauf
We are climbing up.	Wir klettern rauf.
The captain comes up.	Der Kapitän kommt rauf.
over	rüber
the valve	das Ventil
Go over to the valve!	Geh rüber zum Ventil!
Bring the tools over!	Bring das Werkzeug rüber!
The submarine is sinking.	Das U-Boot sinkt.
We are staying inside the submarine!	Wir bleiben innerhalb des U-Boots!
the hatch	die Luke
The hatch was opened.	Die Luke war geöffnet.
Come in and close the hatch!	Komm rein und schließ die Luke!
Stay calm during the emergency!	Bleibt während des Notfalls ruhig!
the alarm	der Alarm
Do you hear the alarm?	Hörst du den Alarm?
to turn (rotate)	drehen
Turn the valve!	Dreh das Ventil!
The valve is broken.	Das Ventil ist kaputt.
We are diving because the storm is stronger.	Wir tauchen, weil der Sturm stärker ist.
Turn the key!	Dreh den Schlüssel!
The alarm is ringing, come down quickly!	Der Alarm klingelt, komm schnell runter!
upstairs, up there	oben
The bathroom is upstairs.	Das Bad ist oben.
Please come upstairs!	Komm bitte nach oben!
downstairs, down there	unten
The kitchen is downstairs on the ground floor.	Die Küche ist unten im Erdgeschoss.
We are waiting downstairs at the door.	Wir warten unten an der Tür.
to put (into), to be stuck	stecken
Put the money in your bag!	Steck das Geld in die Tasche!
The key is stuck in the door.	Der Schlüssel steckt in der Tür.
to move (physically)	bewegen
I cannot move the cupboard.	Ich kann den Schrank nicht bewegen.
Please move the table to the left.	Bitte bewegen Sie den Tisch nach links.
over there	drüben
The bus stops over there.	Der Bus hält da drüben.
Someone is waiting over on the other side.	Drüben auf der anderen Seite wartet jemand.

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