übersteigen

übersteigen is a German verb that means "to exceed," "to surpass," or "to go beyond." It is a separable verb commonly used in both everyday conversation and formal contexts to describe situations where something goes past a limit, boundary, or expectation.

The verb conjugates regularly in most tenses. In present tense, it forms: ich übersteige, du übersteigst, er/sie/es übersteigt, wir übersteigen, ihr übersteigt, sie/Sie übersteigen. The past participle is überstiegen, and the simple past form is überstieg.

übersteigen can be used both transitively and intransitively. When used transitively, it typically takes a direct object and indicates exceeding a specific amount or level. For example, "Die Kosten übersteigen das Budget" means "The costs exceed the budget." In its intransitive form, it describes the act of going beyond boundaries or limits without specifying what is being exceeded.

The verb appears frequently in various contexts including business, sports, and general descriptions of exceeding expectations or standards. Common collocations include übersteigen die Erwartungen (to exceed expectations), übersteigen die Grenzen (to exceed the limits), and übersteigen die Zahlen (to exceed the numbers).

Related terms include übermäßig (excessive), über (beyond, over), and steigen (to climb, rise). The prefix über- adds the meaning of "beyond" or "over" to the base verb steigen, which originally meant "to climb."

In everyday German, übersteigen serves as a precise way to express exceeding limits, whether they are physical, numerical, or abstract concepts like expectations or capabilities. The verb's separable nature means the prefix über- moves to the end of the clause in certain sentence constructions, following standard German separable verb rules.