här

Här is a Swedish adverb meaning "here," used to indicate location close to the speaker. It is a core spatial word in Swedish and is common in everyday speech. It appears in declarative sentences, questions, and exclamations, and in fixed expressions such as här och nu ("here and now"), här hemma ("at home"), and här uppe ("up here"). In clauses of existence or movement, här marks the place where something is or where someone is going.

As a standalone word, här denotes place and can contrast with där ("there"). It can also function as part of demonstrative phrases indicating proximity, as in den här boken ("this book") or det här huset ("this house"). In these cases, här works with a demonstrative or article to point to a nearby noun. The related directional word hit means "here, toward this place" and is used with imperatives or verbs of motion, as in Kom hit ("Come here").

Etymology and related forms: här comes from Old Norse hér and is related to the North Germanic cognates Norwegian her and Danish her, all tracing back to a proto-form meaning "in this place." The core meaning—proximity to the speaker—has remained stable through Swedish history. Dialects can vary in vowel quality and pronunciation, but the basic usage of här as a deictic for location near the speaker remains constant. In modern Swedish, här is a versatile word that anchors spatial references in discourse and interacts with demonstratives to specify near objects.