Here or in here?

Feifei  大家好！欢迎收听有BBC英语教学带来的《你问我答》节目。在这个节目中我们会解答听众们提出的在英语语言学习中遇到的种种难题。我是冯菲菲，坐在我身边的是William Kremer. Hello William.
 
William:  Hello Feifei.
 
Feifei:    Ready for another tricky question of the week?
 
William:  Yes. Ready and waiting.
 
Feifei:  这个问题来自徐州的Qiancheng, 他在来信中这么说: 
 
Here or in here? I don't know the difference of the usage between here and in here. Can you tell me? I will appreciate your answer.
 
他想知道什么时候用 here, 什么时候又用  in here？What’s the answer, William?
 
William:  Well, here means where I am right now. People listening can’t actually see us, but right now you are sitting about a metre away from me, Feifei. So I can say, I’m here and you’re there. 
 
Feifei:  No, no, you’ve got that wrong. I’m here and you’re there.
 
William:    Very funny. Anyway, I’m here and you’re there but we are both in here. In here means, in this room. 
 
Feifei:  我知道你的意思，here 的意思是这里，而  in here 的意思是在这个房间里。Is there anything else to say about this word ‘here’ William?
 
William:    Well, I’m sure you know the golden rule about here and there, Feifei. When did you come to England, again?
 
Feifei:  I came here in September 2006.
 
William:  See, so that’s a perfect use of the word here, you say ‘I came here’, you don’t say ‘I came to here’. And likewise, you say ‘I go there’ or ‘You go there’ – you don’t say ‘You go to there’. 
 
Feifei:  在英语里我们不说come to here 或者go to there, 而说come here 或go there.

 
William:  Now that’s the main thing to remember, but there are also a couple of… of other little – 
 
[PHONE RINGING]
 
Feifei:  I’m not getting it.
 
William:  It’ll be for you. Hello, William here. Feifei? Yes, she’s here too. You want to speak to her? But… she’s recording a programme now! All right, here she is.
 
Feifei:  Hello…哦妈妈呀，嗯，好，知道了。我现在在录节目，能不能晚点儿再给您打电话。是的，好，一会儿再说，再见。
 
William:  Important call? 
 
Feifei:  Uh-huh.
 
William:  Ok, well coming back to today’s programme, do you remember how I used he word here in answering the phone just now? 
 
Feifei:  你刚刚接电话的时候说 Hello, William here. 这么说我们在接电话的时候应该用here 或者there 这两个词? 
 
William:    Yes. And do you remember what I said when I passed the phone over to you?
 
Feifei:  当你准备把电话递给我的时候，你好象说了here she is – 她这就来接电话，在英语种当我们把什么东西转递给另一个人的时候，通常说here it is.
 
William:  Yeah, so with pronouns we say ‘Here it is’ or ‘Here he is’ or ‘Here they are’. But when we have a noun phrase, we say ‘Here is Feifei’ or ‘Here is your daughter’ or ‘Here’s your pen’ etc.
 
Feifei:    Here 和人称代词连用的时候句型是这样的 here she is 或者 here it is; 但是如果和名词短语连用的时候我们说here is Feifei 或者here is your pen. Are any other
rules to do with here?
 
William:  Well the other thing that learners sometimes say is something like ‘Here is warmer than Harbin’. That sounds strange to English speakers because we don’t usually use here or there as nouns. So you should say, ‘London is warmer than Harbin’ or more naturally, you would say ‘It is warmer here than in Harbin’. 
 
Feifei:  我们不说here is warmer than Harbin 因为 here 和  there这两个词通常不被作为名词来使用。那么如果我们身处伦敦的话，就应该说London is warmer than Harbin 或者说it is warmer here than in Harbin. William那这些规则也适用于单词there 了？ 
 William:  Yes, they do indeed. So thank you so much, Qiancheng, for your question and if you have an English language question for us then please send us an email to questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk and we’ll do our best to – 
 
[PHONE RINGING]
 
  I don’t believe it! I’m not getting it. I’m not getting that phone!
 
Feifei:  Hello, Feifei here. 哦，爸爸呀，我刚才还在想您什么时候会给我打电话呢！ 

Qiancheng from Xuzhou asks this week’s question about the word here and the phrase in here.

In the programme, William explains that the word here refers to where the speaker is at the time, but in here means in this room.

William goes on to highlight some other areas of difficulty involving the words here and there.

- We never say ‘Come to here’ or ‘Go to there’ – we just say ‘Come here’ and ‘Go there’.

- When you give something to someone you can say ‘Here it is’ or if you are introducing a person on the telephone, ‘Here he is’.

- This word order changes when we use noun phases rather than pronouns, e.g. ‘Here’s your pen’ or ‘Here is Feifei’.

- The sentence ‘Here is warmer than Harbin’ sounds wrong because here and there are not normally used as nouns. It is better to say, ‘It is warmer here than in Harbin’.

We also discover ways that we can use the words here and there on the telephone, but if you want to find out more you will have to listen to the programme!

Thanks so much to Qiancheng for his interesting question. If you have a question about the English language, send us an email to questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. Your name and answer to the question could appear on our website.

Glossary 词汇

refers
指

highlight
强调

noun phases
名词短语

pronouns
代词