meinen
German
Etymology 1
From Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), from Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; lament”).
Germanic cognates include Bavarian manan, moana, West Frisian miene (“to deem, think”) (Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)), Dutch menen (“to believe, think, mean”) (Middle Dutch menen (“to think, intend”)), English mean, Old Saxon mēnian. Indo-European cognates include Old Irish mían (“wish, desire”) and Polish mienić (“to signify, believe”). Related to moan.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmaɪ̯nən/, [ˈmaɪ̯nən], [ˈmaɪ̯nn̩]
Audio (file) Audio (file)
Verb
meinen (weak, third-person singular present meint, past tense meinte, past participle gemeint, auxiliary haben)
- to opine, to think; to believe; to suppose
- to say; to utter; not used with nouns; not used in the imperative and rarely in the infinitive
- Synonym: sagen
- Entschuldige, was meintest du gerade?
- Sorry, what did you just say?
- to mean; to be convinced or sincere about something
- Das sagt er nicht nur, das meint er auch.
- He doesn’t just say it, he means it.
- to mean; to have in mind; to convey
- Was meintest du damit?
- What did you mean by that?
- Meinst du das rote oder das gelbe Haus?
- Do you mean the red or the yellow house?
- (now rare) to mean; to signify
Conjugation
Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
Derived terms
- Meinung
- vermeinen
Etymology 2
Inflected form of mein.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmaɪ̯nən/, [ˈmaɪ̯nən], [ˈmaɪ̯nn̩] (standard)
- IPA(key): /maɪ̯n/ (common, colloquial)
- Homophone: mein (nonstandard)
Determiner
meinen m sg or pl
- (possessive) inflection of mein:
- accusative masculine singular
- dative plural
Usage notes
- In colloquial spoken German, the masculine nominative forms mein, dein, kein, etc may not be distinguished from the accusative forms Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), deinen, keinen etc in adjectival use. The distinction is maintained in substantival use, i.e. without a following noun.
Old High German
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *mainijaną.
Conjugation
Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
References
- Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014