Last week, we looked at the words daran and dran. You have likely also seen the word ran, which is a colloquial German adverb meaning “up to it,” “over to,” or simply “near,” depending on the sentence.

Das macht ihm Spaß: direkt ran an den Schaltkasten.

That's fun for him: directly to the control panel.

Caption 2, Deutsche Welle: Lieber Ausbildung als Studium

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Wir müssen noch näher ran. -Ja, ja.

We have to get even closer to it. -Yes, yes.

Caption 46, Abenteuer Nordsee Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen - Part 1

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Schön eng dran bleiben, ja, schön! -Ran an den Ball! -Lass ihn nicht durch!

Stay nice and close to it, yes, nice! -Up to the ball! -Don't let him through!

Caption 52, Die Pfefferkörner: Eigentor

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Just like daran and dran, you'll often see ran in verbs.

Lass sie näher rankommen, damit wir sie beobachten können.

Let them come closer so we can observe them.

Caption 67, Es war einmal... der Weltraum: Die Saurier

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Rauf und runter are colloquial German adverbs meaning “up and down.” They are often used together to express movement in both directions.

Es ging rauf und runter und wieder rauf und runter.

He went up and down and up and down again.

Caption 29, Piggeldy und Frederick: Fahren Achterbahn

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Und weiter geht's: rauf und runter.

And on we go: up and down.

Caption 26, Ab in den Urlaub: So kommt der Koffer in den Flieger

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While "to bring someone down" can have negative connotations in English, the German verbs runterkommen and runterbringen can colloquially mean to calm down or help someone relax.

Wenn alles in mir laut ist und ich mich selbst nicht hör bringst du mich wieder runter.

When everything inside me is loud and I don't hear myself you bring me back down [calm me down].

Captions 5-7, Adel Tawil: 1000 gute Gründe

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Further Learning

You'll find many more examples with ran, rauf, and runter on Yabla German!

A few weeks ago in Part I, we looked at the most common ways to say "before": vor, vorher, and bevor. Let's take a look today at some more German words that are commonly translated into English as "before."

Warum hatte man bis vergangene Woche denn so wenig von ihr gehört?

Why had we heard so little from her before this past week?

Caption 65, Coronavirus - Kommentar zu Angela Merkels Rede

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The preposition bis, usually requiring the accusative case, is also often translated as "until."

Ist natürlich ein besonderer Umstand, nur mit Leuten, die man bisher nicht kannte...

Of course, it's a particular circumstance to only be with people you didn't know before...

Caption 11, Anja Polzer - Interview

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The adverb bisher is sometimes translated to English as "previously."

Ehe du einschläfst, wollte ich dir schnell bloß sagen,

Before you fall asleep, I just wanted to quickly say to you,

Caption 51, Janoschs Traumstunde - Post für den Tiger

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Not to be mixed up with the noun die Ehe ("the marriage"), the conjunction ehe is sometimes spoken in a shortened form as eh. 

Alles das, was früher war

All that was before

wischst du einfach weg

you just wipe away

Captions 20-21, Adel Tawil - 1000 gute Gründe

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The adverb früher (which is also seen as an adjective) is sometimes translated as "previously" or "earlier," depending upon the context.

Die hatte ich vorhin an, zum Beispiel beim Umzug

I had it on before, for example during the parade

oder als wir noch 'nen Auftritt hatten.

or when we had an appearance.

Captions 14-15, Bretten - Das Peter-und-Paul-Fest

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The adverb vorhin sounds similar to vorher, which we read about in Part I, but expresses something that happened in the very recent past—just seconds, minutes, or perhaps a few hours previously.

All das wird auf die Probe gestellt wie nie zuvor.

All of this is being put to the test like never before.

Caption 5, Coronavirus - Fernsehansprache von Angela Merkel

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The adverb zuvor is often translated as "previously" or "beforehand," depending upon the context.

So voll Energie, so hoch wie noch nie

So full of energy, as high as never before

Caption 4, Beatrice Egli - Wir leben laut

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The German phrase noch nie would translate literally as "yet never," but that doesn't make any sense in English and it is usually translated as "never before."

Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and search for some of the words above that are commonly translated as "before" to get a better feel for the contexts in which they are used in a real-world context.