Über hinaus and über hinweg

If you are familiar with über ("above," "over," "across") and hinaus ("out," "afield"), the fact that über hinaus (also darüber hinaus) is often translated as "beyond" may not surprise you. Like in English, it can be used to talk about physical distance, or be used in a similar context to außerdem, which means "additionally" or "moreover."

 

Es ging über die Wiese hinaus in die große, weite Welt.

It went across the meadow, out into the big, wide world.

Caption 49, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Das hässliche Entlein

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Ist die Drohne auch mit einer Kamera ausgestattet, muss ihr Besitzer darüber hinaus noch mehr beachten.

If the drone is also equipped with a camera, its owner must additionally pay even more attention.

Captions 36-37, Rhein-Main-TV: Strengere Regeln - Lohnt sich eine Drohne überhaupt noch?

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...und vielleicht noch darüber hinaus mit verschiedenen Medien zu arbeiten.

...and maybe even beyond that, working with different kinds of media.

Caption 50, Sprachschulen: Sprachcaffe Frankfurt

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Although it may look similar, über hinweg cannot be used interchangeably with über hinaus. It is often translated with "over" or "through" and can be used to talk about time passing. Take a look:

 

Für Menschen sind Tiere oft treue Begleiter und helfen über so manche einsame Stunde hinweg.

Animals are often loyal companions for people, and help them through many a lonely hour.

Captions 1-2, Für Tierfreunde: Wohin mit Tieren wenn Besitzer sterben

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Wir haben mit den vierten Klassen über ein ganzes Jahr hinweg zu unterschiedlichen Themen gearbeitet...

Over the course of an entire year, we have worked on various themes with the fourth grade class...

Captions 11-12, Erstes Frankfurter „Schuljahr der Nachhaltigkeit“: Abschlussfeier

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As you can see, both of the examples above refer to time, and not to distance or extent. But in this next example, über hinaus very clearly means "over" and "away":

 

Eines Tages wird es so weit sein, und bis dahin träume ich mich über die Mauer hinweg zu dir.

One day it will be the case, and until then I will dream myself over the wall to you.

Caption 29, Lilly unter den Linden: Umzug in die DDR

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Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and make sure you understand how these phrases are used in a sentence. For each sentence you see, consider which other word could be used and what this says about the meaning of über hinaus or über hinweg in that particular context. 

What's Mine Is Yours

A substantival possessive pronoun is a personal determiner that is used without an accompanying noun, such as "mine," "his" or "hers," "yours," "ours," and "theirs." In English, substantival possessive pronouns sometimes have a different form than standard personal pronouns with a noun: "my" becomes "mine," as in "My wallet is in my bag." "Oh, where is mine?" In German, however, the substantival variant depends upon the inflective ending of the original pronoun that it is replacing. 

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Ich nehme mal an, Ihre Schulzeit liegt ähnlich weit zurück wie meine.

I take it your time at school dates, likewise, back as far back as mine.

Caption 1, Sprachschulen - Sprachcaffe Frankfurt

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Since he is referring to his time at school (feminine noun, singular nominative case: die Schulzeit), the substantival possessive pronoun is inflected accordingly: meine
 

Dafür könnt' ich sie bei der Schulbehörde anzeigen,

I could report her for that to the school authorities,

aber dann stünde dein Wort gegen ihres.

but then it would be your word against hers.

Caption 15, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche

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Although the possessive of das Wort would be ihr Wort, the substantival possessive pronoun adds -es to the neuter singular nominative case. If the substantival possessive pronoun were standing in for a masculine noun, it would add -er for the masculine case. You will most often encounter -es endings on pronouns in the genitive case, so best keep a sharp eye out for this exception!

Further Learning
Visit Yabla German and search for examples of nouns that you can practice turning into substantival possessive pronouns. Check out this site to further practice your pronoun skills! 

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