hergehen
to go here and there, to walk about
- Past (Präteritum)
- herging
- Past participle
- hergegangen (sein)
A separable verb indicating movement back and forth between two points or places. In the context of the story, it describes Leon pacing between his documents to make a decision. It is used with 'sein' due to the indication of movement or change of position between points of interest or focus within a space or mental state (as in 'zwischen zwei Dingen hergehen'). It is often used to describe physical pacing, but can also be used in the expression 'es geht her' to describe how things are going in a certain atmosphere or situation (e.g., 'es geht wild her'). It is generally rare in formal writing outside of descriptions of movement or informal accounts of events/happenings. Note: while 'hergehen' is generally used for direction towards the speaker, the compound 'hin- und hergehen' (as in the text) describes the alternating motion between two locations, even if they are both distant from the speaker's current focus, effectively replacing 'hingehen' in the paired usage for oscillation between two choices/places or documents in this case. Do not confuse it with 'einhergehen' which implies accompanying or being caused by something else (non-separable). Formally, the standard verb for 'to go' is 'gehen' (aux: sein). The particle 'her' remains separable throughout the tenses: 'er ging hin und her', 'er ist hin- und hergegangen'. Usage of 'hergehen' on its own is less common than in the combined expression 'hin- und hergehen'. Note: 'hergehen' is distinct from 'hingehen', though often used together. The usage here ('hin- und hergegangen') functions as an adverbial oscillation. It is intransitive with the auxiliary 'sein'. Always separable. Used literally for walking to and fro, or metaphorically for the process of weighing choices ('zwischen Dokumenten hin- und hergehen').
Conjugation
Present
- geht her
- present, singular, third-person
- gehe her
- first-person, indicative, present, singular
- gehen her
- first-person, indicative, plural, present
- gehst her
- indicative, present, second-person, singular
- hergehe
- first-person, indicative, present, singular, subordinate-clause
- hergehen
- first-person, indicative, plural, present, subordinate-clause
- hergehst
- indicative, present, second-person, singular, subordinate-clause
- hergeht
- indicative, plural, present, second-person, subordinate-clause
Past
- ging her
- past
- gingen her
- first-person, indicative, plural, preterite
- gingst her
- indicative, preterite, second-person, singular
- gingt her
- indicative, plural, preterite, second-person
- herging
- first-person, indicative, preterite, singular, subordinate-clause
- hergingen
- first-person, indicative, plural, preterite, subordinate-clause
- hergingst
- indicative, preterite, second-person, singular, subordinate-clause
- hergingt
- indicative, plural, preterite, second-person, subordinate-clause
Subjunctive
- gehe her
- first-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- gehen her
- first-person, plural, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- gehest her
- second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- gehet her
- plural, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- ginge her
- first-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- gingen her
- first-person, plural, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- gingest her
- second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- gingst her
- second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- ginget her
- plural, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- gingt her
- plural, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- hergehe
- first-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-i, subordinate-clause
- hergehen
- first-person, plural, subjunctive, subjunctive-i, subordinate-clause
- hergehest
- second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-i, subordinate-clause
- hergehet
- plural, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-i, subordinate-clause
- herginge
- first-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii, subordinate-clause
- hergingen
- first-person, plural, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii, subordinate-clause
- hergingest
- second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii, subordinate-clause
- hergingst
- second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii, subordinate-clause
- herginget
- plural, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii, subordinate-clause
- hergingt
- plural, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii, subordinate-clause
- sei hergegangen
- first-person, multiword-construction, perfect, singular, subjunctive
- seien hergegangen
- first-person, multiword-construction, perfect, plural, subjunctive
- seist hergegangen
- multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- seiest hergegangen
- multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- seiet hergegangen
- multiword-construction, perfect, plural, second-person, subjunctive
- wäre hergegangen
- first-person, multiword-construction, pluperfect, singular, subjunctive
- wären hergegangen
- first-person, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, subjunctive
- wärst hergegangen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- wärest hergegangen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- wärt hergegangen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, second-person, subjunctive
Imperative
- geh her
- imperative, second-person, singular
- gehe her
- imperative, second-person, singular
- geht her
- imperative, plural, second-person
Participle
- hergegangen
- participle, past
- hergehend
- participle, present
Infinitive
- hergehen
- infinitive
- herzugehen
- infinitive, infinitive-zu
Other
- bin hergegangen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, singular
- sind hergegangen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, plural
- bist hergegangen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular
- seid hergegangen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, plural, second-person
- ist hergegangen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, singular, third-person
- war hergegangen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, singular
- waren hergegangen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural
- warst hergegangen
- indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular
- wart hergegangen
- indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, second-person
- hergehen werden
- future, future-i, infinitive, multiword-construction
- werde hergehen
- first-person, future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, singular
- werden hergehen
- first-person, future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, plural
- wirst hergehen
- future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, second-person, singular
- werdet hergehen
- future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, plural, second-person
- wird hergehen
- future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, singular, third-person
- hergegangen sein werden
- future, future-ii, infinitive, multiword-construction
- werde hergegangen sein
- first-person, future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, singular
- werden hergegangen sein
- first-person, future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, plural
- wirst hergegangen sein
- future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, second-person, singular
- werdet hergegangen sein
- future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, plural, second-person
- wird hergegangen sein
- future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, singular, third-person