meinen

See also: Meinen

German

Etymology 1

From Middle High German meinen, from Old High German meinen, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; lament”). Cognate with English mean.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪ̯nən/, [ˈmaɪ̯nən], [ˈmaɪ̯nn̩]

Verb

1. to think; to believe; to suppose (have an opinion or impression)

   Ich meine, das war letztes oder vorletztes Jahr.

   I think it was last year or the year before.

2. to say; to utter; not used with nouns; not used in the imperative and rarely in the infinitive

   Entschuldige, was meintest du gerade?

   Sorry, what did you just say?

3. 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.

4. 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?

5. (now rare) to mean; to signify

   Was meint dieses Wort?

   What does this word mean?

Synonyms

• (think): denken; glauben
• (say): sagen
• (signify): bedeuten; heißen

Derived terms

• Meinung
• vermeinen

Etymology 2

Inflected form of mein.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪ̯nən/, [ˈmaɪ̯nən], [ˈmaɪ̯nn̩]
• IPA^(key): /maɪ̯n/
• Homophone: mein (nonstandard)

Determiner

meinen m sg or pl

1. (possessive) inflection of mein:
   1. accusative masculine singular
   2. dative plural

Usage notes

• In colloquial spoken German, the masculine nominative forms mein, dein, kein, etc may not be distinguished from the accusative forms meinen, deinen, keinen etc in adjectival use. The distinction is maintained in substantival use, i.e. without a following noun.

Further reading

• “meinen” in Duden online
• “meinen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

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Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *mainijaną

Verb

meinen

1. to mean, think, name

Conjugation

Conjugation of meinen (weak class 1)

infinitive	meinen
indicative	present	past
1st person singular	meinu	meinita
2nd person singular	meinis, meinist	meinitōs, meintōst
3rd person singular	meinit	meinita
1st person plural	meinem, meinemēs	meinitum, meinitumēs
2nd person plural	meinet	meinitut
3rd person plural	meinent	meinitun
subjunctive	present	past
1st person singular	meine	meiniti
2nd person singular	meinēs, meinēst	meinitīs, meinitīst
3rd person singular	meine	meiniti
1st person plural	meinēm, meinēn, meinemēs	meinitīm, meinitīn, meinitīmēs
2nd person plural	meinēt	meinitīt
3rd person plural	meinēn	meinitīn
imperative	present
singular	meini
plural	meinet
participle	present	past
	meinenti	gimeinit

References

1. Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014