Breakdown of Der Hund kriecht unter dem Sofa hervor.
der Hund
the dog
das Sofa
the sofa
unter
under, below
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
kriechen
to crawl
hervor
out from
Questions & Answers about Der Hund kriecht unter dem Sofa hervor.
Why do we use the directional adverb hervor instead of just the preposition vor?
hervor combines her (movement toward the speaker) and vor (forward). It specifically means moving out from a hidden place. Because the dog is emerging toward the observer, we use a compound adverb with her-.
The dog is moving, so why is it unter dem Sofa (dative) instead of unter das Sofa (accusative)?
This is a classic trap! With two-way prepositions like unter, we use the accusative for the destination of a movement. But here, the dog isn't moving into the space under the sofa; it is moving away from there. Because the space under the sofa is just the fixed starting location, it takes the dative. The directional movement itself is expressed by hervor instead.
Is hervor a separate word or part of the verb?
It is the separable prefix of the verb hervorkriechen (to crawl out or emerge). In a normal main clause like this one, the conjugated verb (kriecht) takes the second position, and the prefix (hervor) is kicked to the very end of the sentence.
If the dog were crawling away from me to hide under the sofa, would I use hinvor?
Good guess, since hin- means movement away from the speaker, but the word hinvor doesn't exist! If the dog is moving away from you to hide, you just change the preposition to show destination (accusative) and drop the prefix: Der Hund kriecht unter das Sofa.
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