The hydrogenation behavior of the polar intermetallic systems AeE
2 (Ae = Ca, Sr, Ba; E = Al,Ga, In) has been investigated systematically and afforded the new hydrides SrGa
2H
2 and BaGa
2H
2. Thestructure of these hydrides was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and neutron diffraction ofthe corresponding deuterides. Both compounds are isostructural to previously discovered SrAl
2H
2 (spacegroup
Pm1,
Z = 1, SrGa
2H
2/D
2:
a = 4.4010(4)/4.3932(8) Å,
c = 4.7109(4)/4.699(1) Å; BaGa
2H
2/D
2:
a =4.5334(6)/4.5286(5) Å,
c = 4.9069(9)/4.8991(9) Å). The three hydrides SrAl
2H
2, SrGa
2H
2, and BaGa
2H
2decompose at around 300
C at atmospheric pressure. First-principles electronic structure calculationsreveal that H is unambiguously part of a two-dimensional polyanion [E
2H
2]
2- in which each E atom istetrahedrally coordinated by three additional E atoms and H. The compounds AeE
2H
2 are classified aspolyanionic hydrides. The peculiar feature of polyanionic hydrides is the incorporation of H in a polymericanion where it acts as a terminating ligand. Polyanionic hydrides provide unprecedented arrangementswith both E-E and E-H bonds. The hydrogenation of AeE
2 to AeE
2H
2 takes place at low reactiontemperatures (around 200
C), which suggests that the polyanion of the polar intermetallics ([E
2]
2-) isemployed as precursor.