Er raucht draußen.

Rauchen is the infinitive, meaning the basic dictionary form to smoke.
In a normal sentence, German usually uses a conjugated form instead.

For er (he), the verb changes like this:

• ich rauche
• du rauchst
• er/sie/es raucht
• wir rauchen
• ihr raucht
• sie/Sie rauchen

So Er raucht draußen. uses the correct third-person singular form: raucht.

In a standard German main clause, the conjugated verb usually comes in position 2.

So the structure here is:

• Er = position 1
• raucht = position 2
• draußen = the rest of the sentence

This is one of the most important German word order rules.

Yes. That is also correct.

German lets you move another element into the first position for emphasis or style, but the conjugated verb still stays in position 2:

• Er raucht draußen.
• Draußen raucht er.

Both are grammatical. The second version gives a little more focus to draußen.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

German often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• He smokes outside.
• He is smoking outside.

Without more context, Er raucht draußen. could describe:

• a habit, or
• something happening right now

German usually does not need a separate form like English is smoking.

Because German does not form the present continuous the way English does.

In English, you say:

• He is smoking

But in German, the normal present tense is just:

• Er raucht

So ist is not used here.

Draußen is an adverb. It describes where the action happens: outside.

That means it does not take an article, and it does not change for case, gender, or number.

It works like English outside in sentences such as:

• He’s waiting outside.
• She’s eating outside.

They are related, but not used the same way.

• draußen usually means outside, especially in the sense of being outdoors or not inside
• außen often means on the outside / outer side

Examples:

• Er wartet draußen. = He is waiting outside.
• Außen ist die Flasche nass. = The bottle is wet on the outside.

So in your sentence, draußen is the natural choice.

In standard German spelling, ß is used after a long vowel or diphthong in many words.
In draußen, the au is pronounced as a diphthong, so the spelling is ß.

So the standard German spelling is:

• draußen

In Switzerland, you may often see:

• draussen

because Swiss German writing usually uses ss instead of ß.

A rough English guide is DROW-sen, where:

• drau sounds a bit like drow in crow
• ß sounds like s
• the final -en is a light German en, not a strong English en

A more phonetic approximation is:

• DROW-suhn

The stress is on the first syllable: DRAU-ßen.

No. Er raucht draußen. is a simple main clause, so no comma is needed.

You would only add commas if you were connecting clauses or inserting extra elements that require punctuation.

Not quite.

• draußen is the normal, everyday word for outside
• außerhalb usually means outside of in a more formal or spatial sense, often with a noun

Examples:

• Er raucht draußen. = He smokes/is smoking outside.
• außerhalb des Hauses = outside the house

So draußen is the natural word in this sentence.