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au-delà

beyond

adverb o-deh-LAH Less Common
Grammar & Structure Adverbs

Origin: French 'au' (to the) + 'delà' (beyond), from Latin 'de illac'

Also means

the beyond, afterlife

Usage Note

Au-delà functions both as an adverb (aller au-delà = to go beyond) and as a noun (l'au-delà = the afterlife, the beyond). As a preposition it takes de: au-delà de ses limites (beyond his limits). Note the hyphen: without it (au delà) is also acceptable in modern French but the hyphenated form remains more common.

Examples

"Il faut aller au-delà des apparences."

Natural Translation

You need to look beyond appearances.

Literal Translation

It is necessary to go beyond appearances.

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