"Sie ist über mir."
Translation:She is above me.
61 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
On a serious note, can this mean that she is on top of me? I thought that would be "Sie ist auf mir", implying that there is bodily contact (She is on top of me). "She is above me", to me, is more likely to mean that she is on the next floor up, or flying over me (we are not touching).
Can a native speaker please confirm this?
On a serious note, can this mean that she is on top of me?
No. I wouldn't use über if the two things are in contact.
We might be in bunk beds, where I am in the bottom bunk and she is in the bottom bunk, above me.
But not when she is lying on me -- that would be auf mir, as you correctly thought.
If you use the adverb oben "on top", though (Sie ist oben "she is on top; she is at the top"), she might be either auf or über you.
Hey mizinamo, Duo accepts the English translation of 'She is over me'... May I ask, how would one say "she is over me" with respect to a prior relationship? How would this differ in respect to if instead 'she' was my boss, and above me hierarchically? My best!
EDIT: I notice you've expressed it is an acceptable translation for a superior, just below this... my apologies!
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"She is my superior" is how this is expressed in English, but the answer was not accepted.
I reported, but I fear that this particular translation will not be considered when my report is reviewed.
Depends on what you mean, in english those can have different meanings. "She is over me" in terms of you ended a relationshop and she does not think/care about you anymore (To be "over" someone). Or "She is over top of me" like literally above/over TOP of you. So I personally think "She is over me" should not be a correct translation, but maybe "she is over top of me"
Can you not see my reply to penguinchicken which I posted four days ago? Or is it not clear enough?
"She is over me" is a correct translation, just not one that's currently accepted in this sentence. This sentence is from the Pearson course ( https://www.duolingo.com/comment/24066422 ) and the Pearson editors did not add that correct translation to their alternatives, perhaps because they did not think of it. You can report it as "My translation should be accepted".
The German sentence could mean either that she is your boss or that she is physically higher up than you (e.g. on the bunk bed above yours).
Coping with a situation might use sie ist über mich hinweg or sie ist über meinen Verlust hinweg (she is “beyond” me/my loss).
I’m not sure of an idiom for “she no longer loves me”.
Can über be used in all these senses?
No.
It doesn't refer to "recovered from a split relationship" or being morally superior, just being physically or hierarchically above someone.
(Hence the joke: In meinem letzten Job hatte ich 150 Menschen unter mir. - Oh, waren Sie Geschäftsführer? - Nein, Friedhofsgärtner. "In my last job, I had 150 people below me. - Oh, were you a manager? - No, I was gardener in a cemetery.")
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"Auf mich" would be onto because it's accusative (movement/direction) "Auf mir" would be on because it's dative (position)
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I think in some other sentences "über" also means "across." But here it would be incorrect to say, "She/it is across from me"?
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If there's no movement or if there's movement within a certain place, use the dative case: sie is über MIR.
Being "on someone" (auf jemandem) is not the same as being "over/above someone" (über jemandem).
For example, a lamp that is "on the table" is standing on the table, touching the table; a lamp that is "over the table" is hanging above it from the ceiling and does not touch the table.
It's good to have a roof over your head, but it would not be good to have a roof on your head.
I thought "Über" would always trigger accusative :(
It doesn't.
It's one of German's "two-way" prepositions that take either dative or accusative.
Like the others, in the core location sense, it uses dative for a location and accusative for the destination of motion.
In metaphorical uses (such as when it means "about, concerning" rather than "above, over"), it takes the accusative case.