……
Note
We are watching the story from the eyes of the little man. So the smile comes towards us: herüberBreakdown of Sie lächelt zu ihm herüber.
sie
she
zu
to; at
herüber
towards here
her means towards here
über means over
The combination of both words describes a movement towards the speaker.
The opposite of her is hin meaning towards there
hinüber describes a movement away from the speaker.
A way to remember this is the movement of the swing. It goes forth (away) and back, forth and back = hin und her, hin und her...
lächeln
to smile
ihm
Dative form of er
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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