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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

meinen

to mean, to think

  • #35 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: gemeint

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

  1. ich I mean
  2. du you mean
  3. er, sie, es he/she means
  4. wir we mean
  5. ihr you all mean
  6. sie, Sie they mean

Simple past

Präteritum · the past of writing, and of sein, haben and the modals in speech

  1. ich I meant
  2. du you meant
  3. er, sie, es he/she meant
  4. wir we meant
  5. ihr you all meant
  6. sie, Sie they meant

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

  1. ich I have meant
  2. du you have meant
  3. er, sie, es he/she has meant
  4. wir we have meant
  5. ihr you all have meant
  6. sie, Sie they have meant

Future

Futur I · “werden”; in speech the present with “morgen” does the job

  1. ich I will mean
  2. du you will mean
  3. er, sie, es he/she will mean
  4. wir we will mean
  5. ihr you all will mean
  6. sie, Sie they will mean

Conditional

Konjunktiv II · “would”: “würde”, and “wäre”, “hätte”, “könnte”

  1. ich I would mean
  2. du you would mean
  3. er, sie, es he/she would mean
  4. wir we would mean
  5. ihr you all would mean
  6. sie, Sie they would mean

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

  1. du mean!
  2. ihr mean! (all of you)
  3. Sie mean! (formal)

How to use meinen

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Ich meine, wir sollten früher losfahren.

    I think we should leave earlier.

  2. Simple past

    Sie meinte, der Laden sei sonntags geschlossen.

    She said she thought the shop was closed on Sundays.

  3. Perfect

    So habe ich das nicht gemeint.

    That's not how I meant it.

  4. Future

    Deine Mutter wird meinen, wir kommen zu spät.

    Your mother will think we're coming too late.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde meinen, das reicht für heute.

    I'd say that's enough for today.

  6. Imperative

    Meine nicht, dass das so einfach ist!

    Don't think it's that easy!

Good to know

  • Was meinst du? asks what you think. Meinen is also what you mean: ich meine das andere Haus. Die Meinung is an opinion.

Where you hear meinen

The lessons that teach a form of it, and how they say it.

German · Advanced Level 1

  • Ich meine das nicht so. I don't mean it like that.
  • Das habe ich nicht gemeint. I didn't mean that.
  • Morgen wirst du das anders meinen. Tomorrow you'll think differently about that.

German · Advanced Level 2

  • Ich meine das nicht so. I don't mean it like that.
  • Das habe ich nicht gemeint. I didn't mean that.
  • Morgen wirst du das anders meinen. Tomorrow you'll think differently about that.
11
Reading Between the Lines

Advanced Level 1 · Wie meinst du das?

Needs a subscription 13
Calling a Tenants Meeting

Advanced Level 1 · Dann im Keller. Wer kommt, was meinen Sie?

Needs a subscription 15
A Tenant Disagrees

Advanced Level 1 · Meinen Sie?

Needs a subscription 19
The News Item

Advanced Level 1 · Was meinst du?

Needs a subscription 23
A Crowdfunding Idea

Advanced Level 2 · Die Hörer? Was meinst du?

Needs a subscription 15
The Sound Editor's Rule

Advanced Level 3 · Luft? Was meinst du damit?

Needs a subscription 28
Thinking It Over With Nina

Advanced Level 3 · Meinst du? Jede Woche eine Stunde.

Needs a subscription 16
The Berliner Schnauze

Fluency Level 1 · Nicht böse gemeint. · Jenau. Wir meinen es nicht böse.

Needs a subscription 21
A Heated Caller

Fluency Level 1 · Moment. Was genau meinen Sie?

Needs a subscription 27
Max's Accent

Fluency Level 1 · Das meine ich ernst.

Needs a subscription

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.