Breakdown of Draußen ist es kalt, kommen Sie herein!
sein
to be
es
it
kommen
to come
Sie
you (formal)
kalt
cold
draußen
outside
herein
in (towards speaker)
Questions & Answers about Draußen ist es kalt, kommen Sie herein!
Why do we use herein instead of hinein in this sentence?
her means motion towards the speaker, and ein means into. Because the speaker is already inside the warm place and wants the listener to come towards them, they say herein. If the speaker were outside and telling someone to go inside away from them, they would use hinein.
Could I just say kommen Sie in?
In English, we simply say 'come in'. But in German, in is a preposition that usually needs an object (like in das Haus). To express the direction of moving 'in' without naming the building, you have to use a directional adverb like herein.
Why is the word order Draußen ist es and not Es ist draußen?
You could definitely say Es ist draußen kalt, but putting Draußen at the beginning emphasizes the cold location. Remember that whenever you put a word other than the subject in the first position of a main clause, the verb must stay in the second position (ist). This pushes the subject (es) right after the verb.
Why is it kommen Sie instead of Sie kommen here?
This is a formal command. To tell someone you address as Sie to do something, you simply swap the verb and the pronoun. So the statement Sie kommen (You are coming) becomes the command kommen Sie (Come!).
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