draußen

Draußen is a German adverb that denotes location or activity outside the interior of a building, in the open air, as opposed to indoors. It can refer to the external environment or to outdoor activities and is frequently used with verbs of being or moving, for example: “Ich bin draußen,” “Wir gehen heute Abend nach draußen spazieren.” It also appears in weather expressions such as “Es ist draußen kalt” or “Draußen regnet es.”

Draußen is typically contrasted with drinnen, meaning inside. The word is not a noun and remains invariable; it does not take articles. The standard spelling uses the sharpness symbol ß after a long vowel or diphthong, yielding “draußen.” In some regional varieties, particularly Swiss Standard German, the form “draussen” ohne ß is common.

Etymologically, draussen derives from an older Germanic sense of “out” and the adjective form related to outside space, evolving into the common adverb used today to indicate outdoor locations or activities. It is widely used across registers, from everyday speech to written language, and appears in constructions such as “draußen spielen,” “draußen arbeiten,” or “draußen bleiben,” where it serves to specify the outdoor context of an action or state.

See also: drinnen, der Außenbereich, Outdoor.