Du hast vorhin recht gehabt.

Sentence Discussions German
#1

I’m having trouble learning how to differentiate between all these different words that mean “earlier” or similar things: zuvor, früher, vorher, etc.

Does “vorhin” mean more “a short while ago”, whereas “zuvor” means “prior to this point in time”, whereas “früher” means “before some point in time” (that may have a different context, i.e. if one person arrives earlier than another), and “ehemalig” means “at some point in the past but perhaps a very long time ago and not even recently”?

I don’t think I understand “vorher”. It seems to also mean “before” as in “before some point in time” but I don’t see how it is different from these others.

#2

If you made a list with the words you refer to with etc. (right here) you’re troubeling differentiating with I could help you better :slight_smile:

früher - vorher/zuvor - vorhin (as a start)

ehemalig is not used that way, it doesn’t imply a certain point in time, just that what it refers to is no longer.

1 Like
#3

That makes sense, but what is the difference between früher, vorher, zuvor, and vorhin?

#4

vorher and zuvor are rather interchangeable, they refer to relative ratios primarily, not to a specific time window.
Früher is generally used for things long ago, a year or two as a minimum.
vorhin is best before the end of the day :smiley:

3 Likes